Kitchen Confidential

[GB]

Did you read Kitchen Confidential Breezy?

[VeraBlue]

Originally Posted by BreezyCooking

Trust me - I don't think AB thinks that purposely picking up red-hot pot & pan handles is smart, regardless of what happens in his professional kitchens. Me thinks a bit of common sense is in order here!

Couldn't agree more. Kitchen warriors usually end up with unnecessary injuries and put more work load on others as they heal. There is nothing smart or cool or adventerous about picking up red hot pans.

[GB]

Vera, did you read the book?

[VeraBlue]

No GB, I did not.

Would reading the book influence how I feel about picking up hot pans or the potential damage they can do the body or the havoc they can create in a busy kitchen?

[BreezyCooking]

GB - yes, I own & read the book.

That still has no bearing on the fact that Anthony Bourdain is still a very common sense person. If you walked up to him & bragged that, in your home kitchen, you too pick up scalding hot pots & pans regardless of your safety, he'd most probably call you an idiot to your face - lol!!!!

[GB]

It would influence you in knowing where the comment came from. The comment about doing that was not because it is cool. It was taken directly from the book.

In the book AB talks about one of his first experiences in a real kitchen. He was basically trying out for a spot to work there. Something happened (I do not recall what exactly) and he got a small cut on his finger. he asked for a bandage. The kitchen stopped what it was doing. one of the old timers there said that he could not believe he was stopping work to ask for something like that. He then proceeded to pull a cast iron pan out of the oven with his bare hands. He did not flinch at all as he did this. The guys hands were so calloused and worked that he did not feel the heat. He was basically telling AB that if he wants to make it in that field then he has to toughen up a bit.

[GB]

Originally Posted by BreezyCooking

GB - yes, I own & read the book.

That still has no bearing on the fact that Anthony Bourdain is still a very common sense person. If you walked up to him & bragged that, in your home kitchen, you too pick up scalding hot pots & pans regardless of your safety, he'd most probably call you an idiot to your face - lol!!!!

I disagree. I think he would see it as smart. You can easily desensitize your hands to pain if you do it in a smart way. You don't start out by grabbing red hot pans, but you start slow and work your way up. People do this all the time. Look at the martial arts for instance.

building up callouses on your hands is pretty smart if you are going to be working in an environment where you may accidentally grab a hot pan from time to time or have an accident with a knife.

[StirBlue]

When you get so much as a papercut in the kitchen and you are using your hands, the pressure causes even a small cut to bleed more than usual.
I guess it is the human blood factor that causes our recipes to differ!

If I'm already waiting an hour for a meal in a restaurant, I can wait a minute or two more for a bandaid.

I would also like to think that the callus came from hard work rather than show-off chef.

No GB; I did not read the book.

If people put a thermometer in their dish washing water, it would probably be 140F + . Burns are serious business and can cause permanent nerve damage.

I am asking what influence this will have in the culinary arts schools?

[GB]

StirBlue, I understand what you are saying and from a consumers point of view I agree with you. This was taken from the employees point of view in real life. AB's point is that a commercial kitchen is a place when things happen and you need to not be a wimp about it. These things are not always safe or sanitary or smart, but that is the way it is and if you can't handle that then you will not make it in the kitchens he is talking about.

[Half Baked]

I don't think AB was glorifying pain or sex in the kitchen. I believe he was just stating facts as he saw them. All of his books were very entertaining and I sent them to my sons who used to work in kitchens. They howl over the pages because they saw so many of the same antics.

Antics is the wrong word. They saw many of the same screw ups.