We asked chefs how they stay safe in the kitchen, and what to do — and not to do — in case of emergencies
I didn’t always keep burn cream in the kitchen. For the longest time it was in the bathroom, with the bandages and ibuprofen and Pepto Bismol. But it turns out that the kitchen is where I’m most likely to get burned in my house, whether it’s from touching a cast-iron skillet I forgot was still hot, getting splattered with frying oil, or hitting the side of the oven with my arm. What use was the cream on the other side of my apartment? It now lives on the open shelf next to the rice cooker.
The kitchen is a dangerous place, and even the safest and most careful of cooks will likely have at least one good story to bring to urgent care. No one knows this better than professional chefs. Take Eric Huang, for instance, who once spilled a bunch of hot duck fat on his arm while he was working at Eleven Madison Park, and just kept working. “We did that very cliche, epic stupid thing chefs talk about, which is wrap the entire thing in plastic wrap,” Huang says. Eventually he landed in the ICU.
Because of that experience, Huang — and plenty of other chefs — have some opinions about how to best treat burns and cuts in the kitchen. We asked a few about their favorite products to keep nearby in case of any emergencies, and how to tell when it’s time to go to the ER.
Know which recipes could spell trouble
While all burns are bad, “caramel is the worst,” says pastry chef Caroline Schiff: Pouring hot cream into caramelizing sugar can cause it to bubble up and spray onto your skin. Making jam and browning butter can also lead to bad burns, as they stick and trap in heat, Schiff adds. In a similar vein, Huang advises against deep-frying at home, since boiling-hot cooking oil and fat can cause burns like the one he experienced. But if you insist on deep-frying in your kitchen, keep in mind that “the big mistake people make is they don’t account for the bubbling,” Huang says. “You need way less oil than you think. I honestly wouldn’t go over 50 percent of the volume of the pot because it’s going to bubble up dramatically depending on what you’re cooking.”
In general, Schiff says the main thing is not to multitask when you’re working with materials that could wind up hurting you. To keep her own mind from wandering, “I tell myself okay, this is the part where you might burn yourself,” she says.
Consider buying an aloe plant
Instead of burn cream, Huang says the best thing to have in your kitchen is an aloe plant. “In general, they’re pretty easy to take care of, they’re pretty immortal,” he says. “And if you hurt yourself, you just cut a leaf off, split it open and rub it all over.” It works for minor cuts and burns, and the best part is, the plant will replenish itself. But if you have pets who love to chew on leaves or you’re just not a plant person, the next best thing is silver sulfadiazine cream, which is available with a prescription, or from... Chewy.
If neither of those work, Alyse Whitney, the author of the cookbook Big Dip Energy, recommends Neosporin + Pain, Itch, Scar. “I found out that the triple antibiotic with built-in pain reliever and scar preventative is a triple threat for healing a burnt hand,” Whitney says. And if you have the instinct to run your burn under cold water, think twice about that: Huang says that “every doctor and med student” in the ICU told him not to. According to the Cleveland clinic, this can make the burn worse by decreasing blood flow to the area. Instead, your best bet for immediate short-term relief is to use room-temperature tap water.
Always handle metal with kitchen towels
Whitney managed to make pommes darphin without hurting herself on the mandolin, only to burn herself on the pan. “I removed it from the oven with a potholder when it was perfectly golden brown, but when I went to loosen the edges and slide it out of the skillet a few minutes late, I forgot that the skillet had just been in the oven and gripped the handle and completely seared the inside of my palm,” she says.
This kind of injury is why Huang recommends getting in the habit of always handling metal pots and pans with kitchen towels. Even if you know they’re not hot, you’ll build an association and muscle memory, so on the occasion you do forget that a pan has just been in the oven you’ll be way less likely to burn yourself.
Buy in bulk
Whitney says her most common injuries are those that require bandages — nicking her fingers with a mandolin or grater, or hitting her hand on a food processor blade while scraping out dip. Along with Neosporin, she keeps a box of Band-Aids on hand. “The flexible fabric Band-Aids are some of my favorites because they have a wider pad that will make sure the bandage doesn’t stick to a cut, have a stretchy fabric to move comfortably (especially if on a finger or joint), and usually stay on through handwashing,” Whitney says.
Invest in a nonslip pad
Slipping in the kitchen, especially if you’re holding something hot, can obviously cause immediate injury. But there are also long-term health consequences to consider. If you spend a lot of time cooking, standing on a hard floor — especially if you’re not wearing shoes — can cause knee and back pain, as well as sore feet. Whitney recommends investing in a nonslip pad — she just got this cute one from Ruggable — to stay comfortable and prevent accidental falls.
Don’t be afraid of urgent care
Among professional chefs there’s still a strain of machismo that dictates one must grin and bear a bad injury, so maybe it needs to be said: There is nothing cool about working through an injury. And while only about 50 percent of food and hospitality workers have paid sick time, and face pressure to return to their stations immediately, you, a home cook, do not have to do that, no matter how well-stocked your first aid kit may be. If she knows an injury is bad, Schiff says, “I honestly will just go to urgent care because the nightmare is that it’d get infected or something.” So take a step back and take care of yourself. The caramel can wait.
Allie Sullberg is an artist, illustrator, and writer based in San Francisco.
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