Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Bites / People What I Did For Love
Posted by Nicki Wood on Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 10:34 AM
Cooking is hazardous duty. As proof, a sampling of cooking injury photos shot over just two days.
That pink crescent is the burn inflicted by the hot oven rack when the cook reaches in to retrieve a pan and her/his arm doesn't clear the rack above.
In three gatherings over two days, about 10 percent of attendees had a cooking-related injury, most of them burns (but one involving hot liquid and a bruise). Clearly the situation cries for a solution. Just brainstorming, here are some, from low-tech to high-tech.
1) Remove the extra oven racks before the oven is hot
2) Position racks lower in the oven
3) Elbow-length oven gloves
4) Heat-proof ceramic oven racks.
What other solutions can Bites readers imagineer to this unseen epidemic?
Comments (8)
Showing 1-8 of 8
when I am cooking at a contest I feel that it is good luck to burn myself. with hot cooking grates and hot meats it is not too hard
like
dislike
I believe Tony Bourdain covered this very early in "Kitchen Confidential".He realized that a patina of burns, blisters and knife scars was the mark of a real chef.
I gather he would suggest:
5)Let others cook your food.
Aw, it's a red badge of courage. I see three scars on my forearm right now. For more modest cooks, I suggest long sleeves.
Blah, don't even get me started on all my burns. Once when making marshmallows, a small drop of BOILING SUGAR/SYRUP landed on the soft & pale skin on the underside of my forearm. It now looks like a cigarette burn. I've since learned my lesson and put on long sleeves when making marshmallows. But that doesn't help for all the OTHER 99% of the cooking & baking, because I refuse to wear long sleeves all the time.
my husband is a chef and so is very familiar with burns. He says that putting mustard on a burn as soon as it happens is the best solution, and it really works! Leave it on for as long as necessary, and it will help with pain and appearance! I think he said whole grain is the best, but any kind will do!
I am left with a nice blister on my finger after pulling a chicken out of my 400 degree oven last night. But, I think my burns have more to do with the fact I have never bought oven mitts and just stubbornly use kitchen towels every time.
I'm usually not too bad with burning my arms by being fairly cautious. However, I have created many a bad burn on my leg from the oven door while being careful to pull out the goodies without burning my arm but not paying attention to how close I'm standing. Old vintage overheating oven + careless kitchen novice in shorts = curse words every time!
anybody remember an ointment named "Kip" for burns? My mother always had a tube and swore by it. I remember well being oh-so-smarty-pants about ointments being no-nos for burns, and she suggested we compare arms as proof of best treatment, and sure enough, hers were scar free and mine were, well, not.
of course, Kip is impossible to find now, just curious if anyone else remembers it. Red tube, I think.
