Jump to content

  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Cooking Burns and Scars

Comfort Me

By Comfort Me
in Cooking

 Share

Recommended Posts

maggiethecat

maggiethecat

Posted
Posted

Long sear mark on left forearm -- dropped the dacquoise and my arm hit the rack. Two years ago, but still there.

My hands are a mess, not from knife wounds but from oven scars. You may protect your palms by using potholders, but if the tops of your hands brush the rack you understand how that steak feels when it hits the grill! I'm trying to avoid perfect quadrillage.

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

avocado

avocado

Posted
Posted

10-inch chef's knife fell off the magnetic strip and hit the back of my ankle. Nicked my achille's tendon. Didn't walk for three weeks.

"It is impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you."

-Nigel Slater

M.X.Hassett

M.X.Hassett

Posted
Posted
10-inch chef's knife fell off the magnetic strip and hit the back of my ankle. Nicked my achille's tendon. Didn't walk for three weeks.

You win. :raz:

I like many others have many many forearm oven burns, chest burns from shirtless cooking, a few knife nicks, severed nerves in one hand,etc............

Megan Blocker

Megan Blocker

Posted
Posted

Mine are not very exotic...mostly burns from the side of the oven and so on. I did get a new one last night (obviously, not a scar yet, but I have faith!) taking the apple tart I made for my puff pastry experiment out of the oven. Right on the knuckle of my right index finger. Slick, Blocker. Slick.

I have lots of other, non-cooking-related scars. I'm notoriously clumsy. :biggrin:

"We had dry martinis; great wing-shaped glasses of perfumed fire, tangy as the early morning air." - Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado

Queenie Takes Manhattan

eG Foodblogs: 2006 - 2007

judiu

judiu

Posted
Posted

As a teenager, (mumble) many years ago, I cut the side of my thumb off using a meat slicer to cut tomatoes in a sub sandwich stand where I worked. My thumb is still slightly asymmetrical, and the fingerprints have never returned to the amputated portion. :shock:

Also my right arm has numerous little pin point scars from running a popcorn machine in the same amusement park (the spattering oil will do a number on ya every time.) :rolleyes:

"Commit random acts of senseless kindness"

I_call_the_duck

I_call_the_duck

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have a few boring cuts and burns, mainly because I'm either careless or my mind wanders as I'm cutting (note to self: pay attention).

The most memorable scar came one Thanksgiving. I burned my forearm while taking a dish out of the oven. Now I’m usually good if I’m in the kitchen by myself, but there were people in the kitchen, and being the the youngest of four I demand attention, so I jumped and yelled in pain. My BIL, who was hovering, just stands there staring for a moment or two, says, “it looks like you’re in pain,” then backs away. Now the ironic part of this story is that he’s the head of the ER at a hospital in the Northeast. (In all fairness, this was a very minor injury compared to what he's seen. And he wasn't working. But please, have a little sympathy!)

Edited because I didn't proofread properly.

Edited by I_call_the_duck (log)

Karen C.

"Oh, suddenly life’s fun, suddenly there’s a reason to get up in the morning – it’s called bacon!" - Sookie St. James

Travelogue: Ten days in Tuscany

vanderb

vanderb

Posted
Posted

I've been good at home and only have a few little knife nicks, most notably when I got a new french chef's blade for Xmas many years ago. I'd been so accustomed to the dull old knives I'd been using for years that the new sharp one was unexpected... as was the very deep gash to the thumb print. Bled for a couple of hours, but that's standard I bleed like a stuck pig on the best of occasions.

When I was working my way through University as a pizza/line cook I burned the living hell out of my forearms, pizza ovens at an awkward height are somewhat dangerous. Strangley these burns left almost no scars... but maybe that's just the passage of time, it's been a few years since University.

Obviously I'm paying way to much attention at home, I'll have to learn to be more distracted/aggresive in the kitchen. :blink:

Vanderb (ever hungry)

Amateur with dreams of grandeur

gingerfreak

gingerfreak

Posted
Posted

I've burned myself numerous times (surprisingly few scars; must not scar too easily), but most recently grated my thumb to bits while overzealously grating some orange peel for a carrot-orange soup.

Curious to see what kind of lasting impression that will leave..

**Melanie**

beccaboo

beccaboo

Posted
Posted

I have all kinds of burn scars (I have one in progress right now from when the back of my left hand touched the broiler element), but I've never done anything too terrible with a knife. One time, though, I was peeling some kind of really hard winter squash with my new peeler and somehow my hand slipped and I peeled off half of my thumb knuckle! I had to go lie down for a while, so as not to faint, and then my mother the nurse made a nice dressing for my thumb so I could finish fixing dinner. We were having visiting-from-out-of-town relatives over, so I couldn't just bag dinner. The scar's not too bad now, but for a couple of years it looked kind of like a pink extra knuckle pasted onto my thumb.

JanMcBaker

JanMcBaker

Posted
Posted

Among my various cuts and burns, one that left a lasting scar was from years ago when I was cutting up a chicken. I forget now how I was holding it at the time, but I was thinking that I probably shouldn't be holding the chicken the way I was. And you know what happened next-- the knife slipped and hit my left index finger on a slight, finger-tip saving angle just behind the first joint. Felt it thunk against the bone, too. It needed all of one stitch since it wouldn't stay closed because of the finger bend.

I seem to be dangerous with sharp items slipping. I just thought of another one from ancient history, when I waitressed at a seafood restaurant on Friday evenings after school. Just a small neighborhood place run by a couple, but the husband opened fresh clams and oysters to order. So one evening I asked to try opening a clam. Al's oyster knife looked like it was hammered out of a solid piece of metal-- thick and heavy. So he's showing me what to do and Lee, his wife, says "Don't cut yourself", which of course was my cue for the knife to slip and jab into my hand. I still have a small, oval scar on my hand from that one.

"Fat is money." (Per a cracklings maker shown on Dirty Jobs.)
Country Cook

Country Cook

Posted
Posted

My worst scar is my first scar. I was 8 or 9 years old trying to cut a piece of watermelon. I managed to cut the watermelon and the flesh between my thumb and fore finger. It required at trip to emergency and 3 stitches. Still visible today over 30 years later.

sassybat

sassybat

Posted
Posted (edited)

i have numerous burn scars and cuts on my hands from cooking. SO calls me a hazard to myself. :wink: my nails are my best defense. they've saved me from slicing my fingers off so many times....

Edited by sassybat (log)
I_call_the_duck

I_call_the_duck

Posted
Posted

Yesterday, I got a nasty little scrape from my new box grater. The funny thing is that I got it as I was trying to take out the little cardboard piece that was in the center. Could only happen to me. :wacko:

Karen C.

"Oh, suddenly life’s fun, suddenly there’s a reason to get up in the morning – it’s called bacon!" - Sookie St. James

Travelogue: Ten days in Tuscany

Zach Holmes

Zach Holmes

Posted
Posted
i have numerous burn scars and cuts on my hands from cooking. SO calls me a hazard to myself. :wink: my nails are my best defense. they've saved me from slicing my fingers off so many times....

I keep my knives far too sharp for a flimsy piece of nail to stop it, just recently cut off half of my thumbnail along with a sizeable hunk of flesh, one of many I'm afraid.

Never said I was coordinated...

Marlene

Marlene

Posted
Posted
Yesterday, I got a nasty little scrape from my new box grater.  The funny thing is that I got it as I was trying to take out the little cardboard piece that was in the center. Could only happen to me.  :wacko:

Well at least I was using mine when I grated my knuckle off tonight. :biggrin:

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

Kent Wang

Kent Wang

Posted
Posted

Which tools do you find to be the most dangerous? I think mandolin, followed by box grater. Even more dangerous than knives or burners.

Marlene

Marlene

Posted
Posted

Well, with my mandoline at least there is a guard so it offers protection. With a box grater your fingers and knuckles are wide open.

Having said that, just about any sharp object in a kitchen is dangerous for me.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

Zach Holmes

Zach Holmes

Posted
Posted
Which tools do you find to be the most dangerous? I think mandolin, followed by box grater. Even more dangerous than knives or burners.

Definetely the mandoline, once got six parallel cuts on my palm, one every quarter inch from julienning sweet potato, not fun...

Zach Holmes

Zach Holmes

Posted
Posted
Well, with my mandoline at least there is a guard so it offers protection.  With a box grater your fingers and knuckles are wide open.

Having said that, just about any sharp object in a kitchen is dangerous for me.

I got the japanese mandoline, the safety guard is "watch your fingers" printed on the front

PaoPao

PaoPao

Posted
Posted

I've got a nice 2"x1/2" one on my inside forearm. This was from Broiling Unagi but I like to tell people it was from a surfacing tape worm and watch them gasp. :laugh:

Timh

Timh

Posted
Posted

2nd and 3rd degree burn on my right forearm to my hand, got a skin graft on my hand. Was pan frying soft shelled crabs at my place in the quarter, tight line space, floured the crabs and turned to put them in the smoking hot oil(about 1 in), bumped the handle, the pan spunaround, I tried to grabit(reflex reaction) and the oil sloshed all over my arm. 2 weeks in surgical ward of Charity in NO.

ChefDanBrown

ChefDanBrown

Posted
Posted

Nicked my femoral artery splitting crab legs (always point knife away from self...duh). Had to get opened up to the femur, then got a staff infestion and had to heal from the bottom up, was looking at my femur in the shower for ten days. If you think you can top that show me a picture, then I'll show you mine.

DB

"It is just as absurd to exact excellent cooking from a chef whom one provides with defective or scanty goods, as to hope to obtain wine from a bottled decoction of logwood." -Escoffier
judiu

judiu

Posted
Posted
2nd and 3rd degree burn on my right forearm to my hand, got a skin graft on my hand. Was pan frying soft shelled crabs at my place in the quarter, tight line space, floured the crabs and turned to put them in the smoking hot oil(about 1 in), bumped the handle, the pan spunaround, I tried to grabit(reflex reaction) and the oil sloshed all over my arm. 2 weeks in surgical ward of Charity in NO.

Wow! You have my sympathy! Worst burn I ever had (not that I'm a pro) was from trying to pour hot grease out of a pan into a can. The can was too full and my hand shook so the grease poured over my left hand that was holding the can. Lovely "pour and drip" shaped blister. :wacko:

"Commit random acts of senseless kindness"

 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...