I will never again . . . (Part 4)

[Lisa Shock]

I managed to removed all of the skin and a good chunk of cartilage off the top of the proximal knuckle of my right forefinger on a peeler which had been placed in my pastry tool kit by someone else. (hot side people have knife rolls, pastry chefs have rolling toolkits) I just reached in to grab a spatula and popped off a disc of skin about the size of a nickel. I slapped a glove on it, taping the wrist area with blue masking tape, and drove myself to the hospital where I the ER admitted me almost immediately because the glove was full of blood and puffy like a balloon.

Once, someone pulled a speed rack out of the rotating oven, unloaded the pans really quickly and put the rack with the empty/cool ones without telling anyone. I grabbed it hard and pulled it toward myself burning the palms of both hands and part of one forearm. The hands healed fairly quickly, the forearm oozed for a couple of months and was then an impressive scar. The scar has since faded, while more minor burns have left permanent marks.

[Charlotte1988]

I've cut myself quite a few times. This thread reminds me of the Friends episodes where Monica is trying to be sexy in front of Chandler and she drops a knife and it lands in his foot - anyone seen it?

[Broken English]

My finger in present day after an incident with a meat grinder when I was 12. Almost 13 years ago now, but the shock value lingers on.

[young_]

My finger in present day after an incident with a meat grinder when I was 12. Almost 13 years ago now, but the shock value lingers on.

Ouch!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[radtek]

^^^^whew!

I've suffered some painful injuries in the kitchen- serious burns on scarcely healed burns, cuts etc. Two experiences stay with me though: one was a "pickle bucket" opening incident while demonstrating to a trainee that left me with 8 stitches to the webbing between my left hand's #1 digits and the other when a rocks' glass decided to crumble in my left hand while polishing during the height of the rush. Both sent me to the ER. I was back serving drinks one handed an hour later.

Oh and the boxer's fracture to the distal Rt #5 MC during a Cowboy's game. Hard to slap pizza with one good hand though I tried at first. That one took me out of work for weeks and I still feel it sometimes.

[Charcuterer]

My wife had taken a large all-clad saute pan out of the oven put it on the stove top while she turned to do something else. Note- no blame to the wife, I had after all put the pan into the oven at 450*. I turned and grabbed the handle "hand shake" grip prepared to lift the heavy pan. It was the only time I have ever heard my skin sizzle. Even thinking about it makes me shudder. Now we have these silicone handle covers (called "handle condoms" in my house) that go on any pan straight out of the oven.

There was also the V-Slicer incident that removed a quarter size section of the flesh of my palm and necessitated the purchase of Kevlar gloves. At least we learn from our mistakes!

[Baselerd]

I've had a handful of minor cuts on my fingers, but the worst is when I ate a hot pocket right out of the microwave

[garlicvampire]

One of my first jobs was in a small restaurant with a haphazard layout. To get from the kitchen to the cooler, you had to walk down a hall that formed a T intersection with the front area. It was a very busy Friday night when I scurried to the cooler for more supplies, tripped over a frozen ham that had been left on the floor, slid head first down the hall and into the cooler door. This bit of slapstick managed to coincide with one of those weird quiets that occur in restaurants - no patrons talking, no dishwasher roaring, no music blaring - so the whole place heard what spewed out of my mouth as I stood up again! I think the only reason I didn't get fired was too many witnesses and most of them applauded my "performance".

Oh, and this is my first post on eG. Hi!

[CKatCook]

OUCH! Most of these post just make me cringe!

I have lucked out and only grated my knuckles a couple of times, a few burns from hitting the sides of the oven.

I really shudder hearing about the caramel incident The thing that stands out most to me is when I was pouring cold creme into some caramel I was making and got a drop. ONLY A DROP on my thumb right smack next to my finger nail. That one little drop hurt for days! Cannot imagine half a finger...

This whole thread is a word of warning!

[Martin Fisher]

Bad luck can strike at any moment.

A few years ago I was busy preparing something (can't remember exactly what now) I turned to walk across the kitchen to retrieve something and on my way back to the counter I stepped on a piece of waxed paper that had drifted on to the floor.

You know what came next!!!!! LOL

Yeah, I took one heck of a spill, the spill of spills!!! LOL

It was like stepping on a sheet of very slippery ice!!

I came down hard!

Thank goodness I didn't break any bones, but I was VERY sore for many days afterward!!!!

You can never be too careful!

~Martin

[The J]

I repeatedly pull pans out of the oven with an oven mitt, put them on the stove, and then promptly forget that they had been in the oven, leading to colorful descriptions of what that pan can go do to itself after I grab a super-hot handle. I now have a little handle cover that I slip on when I take the pan out, so I know better. Of course, this means that, if I don't see the cover on the handle, it must be cool to the touch, right?.....

About a week ago, I was chopping scallions and just caught the tip of my forefinger. Took off a small chunk. I managed to get to the bathroom just as it was starting to bleed, wrapped it in gauze and a bandaid. Later that night, I noticed blood all down the leg of my jeans. It had bled so much, it soaked through the gauze and the bandaid and started dripping all over. Since then, I found blood on my sweatshirt, my laptop, my end table and my couch.

Another time (probably a year or so ago), I was making a roast, which was on the middle rack in the oven. I had a pan on the rack just underneath it, which I went to take out with what turned out to be a threadbare oven mitt. When I grabbed the edge of the pan, my fingertip got burned immediately, which cause me to flinch, smacking the back of my hands and my wrists on the middle rack, burning them, causing me to flinch and yank my hands out, hitting my forearms on the not-quite-open-all-the-way oven door.

[annabelle]

Ouch! The J, thank goodness I'm not alone in burning and cutting myself.

[radtek]

Was thinking I was overdue for injury but remember grabbing a hot pan out of the oven (roasted brussel sprouts); my thumb missing the folded towel and somehow planting squarely on the handle in one smooth motion. Result: despite a quick application of ice there was a nickel-sized blister on the pad of my thumb to keep me company on Christmas.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

J, that last little story of oven pinball is the exact reason that I now have a pair of oven mitts that goes right up to my elbows. I can't wear sleevless anything in good company, because I look like a self-harmer - I've got all sorts of interesting scars on my hands and forearms from ovens.

[heidih]

The pain is subsiding after several hours. No idea what I am going to wear tomorrow in public. Yes, once again I burned myself with boiling water.

The first serious time was really steam - I pushed the lid back on a Le Creuset pan that had carrots boiling and wanted to drain the water. Of course all the steam rushed up onto my wrist and I stupidly was afraid to drop the pot into the sink. It was ugly.

But not as ugly as a big pot of boiled eggs that I tried to maneuver from the stove to the sink with a cast on my arm. That one was a full on belly slosh. I mean all over mid section. That area is a bit hard to run cold water over unless you jump into a cold shower. I had many guests (none in the kitchen) and tried to motor through as the shower was not an option.

Today it was small elbow macaroni in a pan with only 3 inch sides and the pasta was glomming onto the bottom. I wedged the wooden spoon under the offenders and got a lovely slosh of boiling water on my midsection. I had walked away while the water was going to boil and the level was too low when I put in the dry pasta. As a bonus I was wearing a gauzy top which absorbed nothing. Stubbornly I completed the dish though I was inclined to throw the bewitched pasta into the trash.

I say lesson learned; sure hope so.

[OliverB]

haha, that party above reminds me of one we held some 20 or so years ago. Some friends of my wife over for chicken dinner. They arrived in the afternoon for beers and chips or what it was, eventually I put the chicken in the oven, set the timer and we continued with the above.

90 or so min later the timer goes off, it's close to 8pm, we're hungry for crunchy chicken. Alas, the oven was not on and the chicken was a pale cold carcass, LOL

More chips and beer, for dinner around 9:30, but it was good!

Oh, and that one time, the first time, I made a brisket. Did not know about the plateau, darn thing sat at the same temp for over two hours. Little kids got hungry, eventually I just had to take it out, was more medium rare and a bit chewy, but not too bad. Now I make it hours ahead of dinner and if it's done I wrap it in foil and put it in a small cooler to keep warm, works much better and the kids don't start to eat the furniture :-)

Edit to add:

Oh, one of the first times I used my outdoor wok burner the wok got red hot in the center. Turned the fire down a bit, thinking that's probably really hot while I poured in the oil. Which instantly ignited into a nice fire ball! Luckily I had the lid of my much smaller stove top wok handy to snuff it out! Luckily nobody saw this happen in the family, so it actually didn't happen, but it was still a bit scary, right there, under the big eucalyptus tree.......
Nowadays the burner is further away from the trees and the lid is always at the ready :-)

Edited September 20, 2013 by OliverB (log)

[sigma]

I will never again tourne zucchini with a 300 mm yanagi rather than going to grab an appropriate knife.

[loki]

Put artichoke refuse in the garbage disposal. (Artichokes have extremely strong fibers that immediately clog it). I don't have a garbage disposal now anyway.

Cut hot peppers on a cutting board without eye-wear, at least when I'm doing a large amount. (three times a stray seed flew in my eye).

Try to make vichyssoise in my Vita-mix, which both blends and then cooks. (It does strange things to leeks and onions - making them extremely bitter - and transforms the potatoes into a glue) It's perfectly fine to cook the leeks and potatoes first, then use the Vita-mix, and just about as easy.

[annabelle]

Loki, never put much of anything in the garbage disposal. They are a plumber's cash cow.

[loki]

Oh - from a friend - "Put a blender of half used smoothie/frozen margarita into the freezer, then the next day put it on the blender bottom and turn it on = Need a new blender (motor burnt out)."

Ove gloves are one of the best of the 'Seen on TV' items. I mostly use mine for my woodstove. For water/steam I like the ORKA silicone mitts, though they are not as comfortable as the Ove glove. And maybe this should be a never - put them in a puppies reach as she used them as dog toys. This is sort of funny because the company also makes dog toys, which are still around and healthy, while I have a mit with finger holes!

I've seen the Grill Glove now = maybe it's a solution as it's silicone and watertight? Not sure. They don't look like they are long enough... My ORKA ones are quite long and would protect from steam and splashing of hot liquids up the arm.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I will never again cut Luqutu peppers without gloves, safety goggles, and a NIOSH-approved organic-compounds filter rebreather. I feel like I've been Napalmed.

[judiu]

Pana Can, my sympathy goes out to you! I'm so tender, even jalapenos bring up blisters on my very much abused, work hardened hands, so I feel your pain!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

It doesn't help that the Luqutu I can get here (wild-harvested in an altitude desert nearby) are far and away hotter than Habanero, and only mildly less spicy than Bhut Jolokia. I can normally handle pepper heat with no problems - I routinely slice and process Ají peppers with no protective gear and no consequences - but I have most definitely underestimated these ones.

[Porthos]

Put artichoke refuse in the garbage disposal. (Artichokes have extremely strong fibers that immediately clog it).

Spent the evening of May 26, 1987 clearing the plumbing after trying to put artichoke leaves down the disposal. My 2nd daughter was born the next morning at 7:08.

[Porthos]

Ove gloves are one of the best of the 'Seen on TV' items.

My DW bought me a pair with the steam barrier feature. I like them a lot. I still have my silicone gloves also.