SOOKIE: That is a vat of boiling oil.
LORELAI: Really? Where’s Quasimodo?
Quasimodo, the title character from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, previously discussed. In the book and the 1939 film, Quasimodo pours boiling oil from the cathedral onto his attackers – in the film, he uses the rain spouts on the gargoyles to do this.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 