# Kitchen Burns



## bijoink (Sep 14, 2005)

What do you guys do when you get burned? What do you do to help you out during rush time and you get a burn and dont like the annoying burn sensation? Any suggestions is greatly appreciated


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

In the heat of the rush (pardon the pun) you don't have time to nurse a burn. I would usually just take a wet kitchen towel and wrap it around the burn and continue working. There will be plenty of time for suffering later.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

develop asbestos skin.....the 1950 deck oven is hot on the outside and evertime I walk by it tatoos me....who needs ink when you can have random brown lines on your arms? W/O air conditioning and with the windows incased the kitchen will be an inferno this summer. yippee.

I can remember seriously burning my hand and working with it in an icebath, then wrapping frozen peas around it with a rubberband to deliver....then running into a grocery to get more peas because the pain was mindnumbin'.
That's when you know it's only 2 degree burn if it were 3 degree you wouldn't feel anything because the nerves are toast. There are some cool new bandaids on the market that are just for burns. I stocked up on first aid recently.....great to have them just in case.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

Power through it. Not much else you can do. Deal with it later. For really bad, irritating burns just wrap it in a wet cloth and keep going.


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## mikeb (Jun 29, 2004)

My hands are calloused enough that the majority of burns are very minor, so I don't even do anything to them. I've also been burnt enough times that the pain doesn't really bother me at all.


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## ma facon (Dec 16, 2004)

There are times when I think I received a burn and the next day it is gone. :chef:


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

I remember when you had burning pain from a jelly fish bite you:crazy:


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## aprilb (Feb 4, 2006)

from hot sheetpans. 

One was pretty cool...it looked like a rocketship. (it's faded now though)

I don't know about making the irritation go away, just get so busy you forget it's there, unless it's in a spot that you use constantly like a finger...In which case you'd have to wear gloves anyway.

I've never found burn creams with any of the 'caine' family very useful, but that's just me. 

However, Aloe Vera plants are a given in our household.

April
:crazy:


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## chef_oz (Mar 7, 2006)

waffle burns on each side of my forearms. Those dam oven racks. 
I always laugh when I ask the saute for a left handed saute pan. I get happy everytime!
:ciao:


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Folks, remember when you could tell what station a cook worked by the type of burns they sustained? Saute always had chicken pock looking hands, broiler or grill had no hair on there hands or forearms.


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

I remember when I was at the Grand we had a cook named Boi, I believe he was Vietnamese. Fearless fellow, I learned a lot more from him than he'll ever know. Anyway he worked fast without regard to the sides of the ovens or sheetpans. If you didn't know him you might think he was into scarring. He had lines all the way up both forearms from all the burns he got pulling sheets out of the ovens. Amazing fellow he was.


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## andrew563 (Oct 12, 2005)

I have some nice burn scars right across my wrists. They look like suicide slashes. One of them is from touching the side of a saute pan that just came out of a five hundred degree oven. The other is from a dumbass bumping into me when I was reaching into that same five hundred degree oven.


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## bijoink (Sep 14, 2005)

Thanks for the answers guys. I just go right with the burn but i was just wondering if there are were any nice tricks beside the wet towel.


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## katbalou (Nov 21, 2001)

what worked for me(on large area burns) was slathering on a thick coating of vaseline and covering the area with a dry cover. the small ones you just suffer thru. now that i've been out of the kitchen for awhile and used my aloe vera most of the scars have faded.
kat


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## nick.shu (Jul 18, 2000)

well, there is 2 methods of dealing with burns (IMHO);

1) Dont burn yourself - been through well over 100 establishments and nothing over a 1st deg burn

2) If you do get a touchy, completely ignore it - it never happened. Give that little burn some mental attention, and it will blister. Dont acknowledge it, and the blister will never raise, and the pain will last all of about 20 minutes.

sounds strange huh?, try it, immerse yourself in activity and forget about it and see what happens.

Of course, there are times where you may require some medical treatment, but that depends on the individuals pain threshold, and the mind over matter thing.


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## chef gravy (Sep 2, 2003)

About a week ago, I was pureeing soup in the blender and the bottom fell off. This resulted with boiling hot soup all over my hand. If you don't have any burn gel in the first aid kit - use MUSTARD. Preferably yellow... I've never tried dijon


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

Brad, I had never really thought of that, but now that you mention it, you are exactly right. Saute-little burn splatters up and down the arms, grill-no hair on hands or lower arms, pastry or oven station-hash marks all up and down the arms!!! Just remembered another one saute-deep line across the palm, from forgetting to use a towel to grab those hot saute pans.


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## tigerwoman (Jul 18, 2002)

when we worked on Fire Island the restaurant was attached to a hotel that also had a pharmacy. The pharmacist gave us something called silverdine for burns - I still have some - and bought more in Mexico last year. It really helps bad burns and stops scarring and pain too.

Aloe also works well.


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## chefmikesworld (Nov 17, 2002)

Brush you burn with ice and then coat it with Kosher salt...wrap in wet rag/bar mop/whatever...

15 mins later it's gone, you are gonna feel it tomorrow but that is my trick and it works temporarily...

Cheffy


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## andrew563 (Oct 12, 2005)

My rule of thumb in any kitchen. if its metal, its hot. Always use a side towel.


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## briangig (Sep 26, 2005)

I find the mental thing to be true. I burned right behind my thumb the other day, and it was a slow night, and all I thought about all night was the burn...and sure enough, it was blistering later on...and I almost never blister when I burn myself. Also, I almost NEVER put ice or cold water on a burn, it may stop the pain, but it will come back as soon as the ice comes off. Just suck it up, and the pain will go away (unless it was a really bad burn).

I dont burn myself as often at my new job as I did at my old...between splattering fry pans, flames burning the hair off the forearms, and the muffin tins buring lines all up and down my arms, I was always a mess. I had an awesome bunch of scars that look exactly like a ***** on my arm...It's too faded now though .


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## crazytatt (Mar 5, 2006)

Exactly! That about sums it up.

Besides, trying to "cool" it, only makes the pain worse the second you take the ice off.

Steam Burns ARE the worse, IMO. Other then that I know if my tatt's were removed from my arms, I'ld be allllllll scared(sp) up. Guess I swaped one indelable mark for the other,HA!


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## even stephen (Oct 10, 2005)

Has anyone been in a kitchen gas explosion? 
Now thats a nice even burn. Sometimes you
don't know it till your skin starts to peel off
a week later, not to mention everyone thinks
you started shaving your arms and waxing your 
eyebrows


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## crazytatt (Mar 5, 2006)

:lol: :roll: :lol: 

Thats one way to "exfolliate"!

oh....................I hope no one has had the misfortune of that experience.


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## travisbickle (Mar 13, 2006)

I usually work saute, but one time I was searing off an a*s load of breaded chicken cutlets on the flat top and had a huge pool of oil left over and I was scraping the surface into the grease trap and hit a little nugget that was stuck pretty good and I slipped and splashed my two middle fingers on my right hand with 360 degree oil. It looked like I dipped my hand in the fryer. The skin on my fingers literally was dripping from my hand. I had to finish my shift one handed. After work, I went to CVS down the raod and bought a buch of steril cleaning solutions, burn jell and gauze, went home and poured some booze in glass and cleaned myself up. It looks pretty good now and happened about 8 months ago.


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## aprilb (Feb 4, 2006)

At the Yellowstone Resort the exec chef liked to light the burners with a spray can of pam...

One day he goofed and it was really impressive.

Luckily he wasn't badly injured, it didn't hurt anyone and the pam can stayed intact. He did lose all of his hair for a loooooooonnnnnng time.

April


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

If your all done, noone has watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Spray Windex on it.
Having multiple deep deck ovens we always have silverdine or we just go with straight bleach.
My personal problem is the twice burn. It'll be busy, I'll grab and burn,shout out in Italian, and for some reason I'll grab the same d--- thing.


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## bijoink (Sep 14, 2005)

I dont know if this counts as a gas explosion but the electricity went out in the restaurant last summer and we have to reset the gas deal and then light up the whole line equipment up again, well the flatops have to be raised and another fellow has to light it up with a lighter. I was the fellow who stuck my arm in to light up the pilot and i guess the gas had been on for a good 20 or so many seconds and my eyebrows got burned a little on the top side of my left eye. It scared me for that instant cause i thought i was all burned up. Good memories in the kitchen!


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

Pan are the outsides of your ovens really hot? The deck ovens I have are Universals from 1950...and it's not so much the inside burns but when I'm bumping into the outside or top it'll burn the fool out of me....must have NO insulation. It is some kinda fun to cook with though.


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## culinarymd (Apr 24, 2006)

When I was just starting out as a cook in the Army Reserve I received a steam burn on my forearm from lifting a lid off of a 10 gallon kettle. It was a 2nd degree burn (almost 3rd). But, it was almost time to serve. So, I powered through the meal and had the medic look at it. (That's the nice thing about the Army. Lot's of medics around when you need them). The medic put some Lidocaine gel on it and wrapped it up with some gauze. So, for me, Lidocaine gel is awesome. Then, to prevent scarring, they gave me some silvercream. For 1st degree burns cold water is the best. It stops the skin from burning. About 1 minute under the faucet and I'm good to go.


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## blade55440 (Sep 9, 2005)

My first job was working at McDonald's and to be honest, if you want burn preparation...work there. I've gotten so many burns ranging from the convection oven we use to make biscuits/pies, the flat-tops we use for protein, and the fryers we use for everything, that the only time they actually bother me... is if it's serious.

The last (semi-decent) burn I got was after I pulled a pan out of the oven with my side-towel, then COMPLETELY forgot that I had just pulled it from there and grabbed the handle with my bare hand. Needless to say I was regrowing my finger prints for a while after that.

In my experience, the WORST thing to do with burns is to cover them up with some kind of gel. That holds the heat in and can make the burn worse. If it's serious, you want to sap the heat out of it asap. If it's not, work your way through it and get used to the sensation.


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## fishman2004 (Aug 9, 2005)

I have recently adopted a new theory on burning myself. Last job I had was working a pasta/saute station at this Italian place. The pasta bath had one of those tilt activated faucets ontop which always produced ice cold water, it was great because I would burn myself working saute and there was access to cold water immediately, initially I thought this was a great prospect, but over time I learned that putting water on the burn usually just makes it worse. If you have a bad burn, the only time water should be applied is immediately right after to reduce the temperature of the wound, but if you feel the burn isnt bad enough to blister or scar there is no point aside from comfort to putting water on it. The other thing is if you have a wet hand and your sauteing...things can get alot hotter fast, over time burning myself helped me focus on my work and I have learned to like it.


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## fishman2004 (Aug 9, 2005)

Some other funny stuff....panseared salmon, throwing the whole pan in the oven to finish it up, then you get slammed, end up taking the salmon pan out with a hot pad and leaving it on a back burner or on top of the station for a sec, and then your boss comes over to try and "help you out of the weeds", gets in your way, and then he grabs the pan that was in the oven and continues to scream like a girl and throw the pan into the side storage room in an exhibition kitchen none the less!....I have a nice scar on my neck, I was searing venison racks, a corner of the sheet tray is hanging over the grill, which is cranked, I was carrying the tray up on my left shoulder going to the walkin, a dishwasher walks into me and the hot corner that you weren't aware of presses right up against your neck...and last mothers day, reaching over a smoking hot pan with oil to get to the back burner with a handful of raw veg, a little water dripped off the veg into the smoking hot oil, 3 giant insta-bubbles on my forearm at 4 o clock on a mothers day night...it was a great start


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## thebiggerbopper (May 15, 2006)

My wife once worked as a cook in a kitchen where they grew aloe vera plants on shelves by the windows. If someone got burned they would just break a piece off and rub it on the burn. She swears by it.


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## greasechef (May 20, 2006)

My last day working at the Red Lobster in Montreal before the whole chain was closed down in Quebec I dropped something into the fryer. Long and short is that I was on the job hunt with terrible blisters and scabs all over my face.

Recently I leaned down to get something from under my work table and gave myself a third eyebrow on a hot sheetpan. All that night I kept telling the waitstaff, "I'm not pretty anymore!"

A couple of years ago I was working sautee and I could HEAR the skin on my hand burning when I picked up a cast iron skillet. I felt nothing but when I looked at my hand, the skin was as white as paper. I seem to remember the pain that followed being pretty intense.

A final runner up somehow never left a mark. I was going to drain some potatoes that were still bubbling in the pot. Somehow I slipped and poured what felt like gallons of 212 degree water down my face, neck, shoulders, right arm, chest and back. This was just this past January. Anyway, I exhaled a few choice words and got to mashing before the spuds could start cooling. I just wish that I had been covered in that hot potato water while sitting at my car at a McDonald's drive-thru.

I prefer burns to cuts any day of the week.


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## trainmeup (May 23, 2013)

Well just sustained the worse burn of my career when a smothered but still smoking grease fire reignited in blow torch fashion. First let me encourage you DONT BE A FUCKING HERO. Starve the fire of oxygen with a firm fitting lid or sheet tray. DO NOT MOVE THE POT even if the fire is out and billowing smoke LEAVE IT it can REIGNITE. Let the hood do it's work. I hate scares. Have a ton but would rather just have nice smooth forearms personally. Basically I have no skin on the back and fingers of my right hand. Immediately cooling the burn with water will stop if from frying. A bad burn will blisters within an hour and continue to blister for several days.  Silvercream, breathable bandages, regular cleaning and bandage changes are all necessary. The doctor will have to drain the blisters LET THEM otherwise the liquid breeds bacteria. Bacteria can = infection. Infection = career ending damage causing infections. Drink water obey your doctor and go back in whole and kick ass. Work smart.


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## capecodchef (Jan 19, 2014)

A quick remedy for minor burns is to pour white vinegar on it, Try it next time, it works.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

The FDA deemed my favorite OTC fix (1% lidocaine gel stocked with the sunburn stuff) to be too dangerous without a doc's order.

Some is still out there on the shelves of small mom and pop drugstores...maybe.

The best is silvadene cream....not only relieves the pain but has a bit of antibiotic mixed in.

Next time you visit a doc tell them you cook and most will write you a Rx for a tube.

I keep some in the fridge.

mimi


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## zeppo shanski (Dec 4, 2016)

I like to blast a burn with a nice small CO2 fire extinguisher until the frost cakes up a bit. It all dissipates in a few minutes and POOF!, the burn is gone.


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## chefbruz (Nov 18, 2016)

I'm careful, so i don't get burned (much)

but when you do, DON'T put ice water on the burn, it'll be a bitch all night.

try putting HOT water on the burn. Run to the hot water, put your burn under the water until prickly sweat breaks out on your forehead (or you cannot hold your burn under the water anymore) then do it again, and again. You will forget the burn and work normally the rest of the shift. The burn heals quicker too.

Also, when your soft shelled crab in the deep fryer explodes hot oil all over you, that's good luck...

An old chef showed me this trick and it works.


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