Halloween is around the corner and here’s a collection of kitchen horror stories to get you in the mood. Metromix asked several chefs their worst kitchen moments and they responded. You can click on the link to see all of them but I posted some of the gnarliest stories below. Warning: you may not want to be eating when reading this post.
Halloween Caprese: image taken from evilmadscientist.com
Michael Psilakis
Anthos, Mia Dona, Kefi
What’s the most horrific thing you’ve seen happen in a kitchen?
There was a line cook who was “in the weeds”—the kitchen term we use for “falling behind.” He was working the fry station that night, and he put something in the deep-fryer and instead of using tools to pull it out of the hot oil, he used his hand. The oil burn doesn’t come off of you. It just cooks the skin. His flesh was just burned off. He didn’t come back again. I don’t know if he ever cooked again.
Alain Allegretti
Allegretti
Scariest kitchen moment?
When one of my line cooks passed his whole hand through the slicer while slicing prosciutto. He lost two of his fingers. I passed out when I saw that. There was blood everywhere. People were panicking.
Ed Brown
Eighty One
Most horrific thing you’ve seen happen in a kitchen?
A guy opened up the spigot of a giant steam kettle filled with boiling consomméé. He was standing in the trough, which is there to contain any splash. As he opened the spigot, it broke and the liquid came flooding out all over his feet and ankles. He quickly pulled off his shoe and the skin came off with it like a sock. I remember it like it was yesterday, and it was a long time ago.
