Friends Reunited
Groundhog Day in the kitchen
I’ll keep this one short and sweet for good reason-I’ve just burnt all of my fingertips and typing this really isn’t pleasant. It’s all my fault, there has been a distinct lack of dinner services under my belt recently and the skin on my fingers has gone soft on me. I now oversee a group of resorts, hotels and restaurants and so that means time away from the hustle and bustle of my flagship kitchen and that means I burn easier!
When you cook professionally you build up a layer of skin on your fingers which becomes immune to heat, ‘asbestos hands’ as it’s known in English kitchens but as soon as you have a week or more off then it wears off and you have to build it up all over again, painfully so. Still, I shouldn’t complain because tonight I ran the service aided by two of my former sous chefs, one Australian and one French and it was just like old times.
The Australian had been with me almost from the start, I got six years of hard graft out of him before he went on to work for Peter Gilmore at Quay restaurant in Sydney and then back to the UK for Gordon Ramsay and Jason Atherton at Maze in London but despite that he’s never forgotten us and it’s been great to see him back in his old stomping ground. One thing I’ve always found about this line of work and chefs in general is that when you make a friend of another chef they stay your friend because you share the blood, sweat and guts of the job and it’s really like no other profession in that regard.
Next week I shall visit another of my former sous chefs for whom I shall photograph the dishes he is putting on the menu for the restaurant he has just bought. Fourteen years on and all we talk about is food, just like we always did. I like that.
Friends are hard to find !
Any friendship that survives the intensity of your kitchen could be said to have been well and truly tested !
Rod
November 18, 2008 @ 8:13 am
Miles,
These friendships are something to be treasured. As you mention, when people have gone through sweat, toil and hardships together, there is a common bond.
You must also have a great time exchanging experiences and recipes. I suppose that none of you will ever stop learning and evolving.
Elsie
PS Do you use vaseline on burns or do chefs have some special chef’s creams?
November 18, 2008 @ 1:50 pm
Rod,
Quite true!!
Miles
November 18, 2008 @ 6:11 pm
Elsie,
We have a special burn spray, another called cold water and my favourite which is called ‘get on with it’.
Miles
November 18, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
Miles,
Aloe Vera gel, preferably straight from the leaf and someone in the kitchen to gently blow cool air onto your fingers, that’s what you need
Do you know Miles that I’ve been cooking for years and I still don’t have asbestos fingers. It must be sheer volume of hot pans on the go at once, whereas I personally have to use tongs at arms length with protective thimbles on every finger…. a sort of Edward Scissor Hands of the kitchen
Cid
November 18, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
Cid,
Thought you’d left me for another blogger
Developing asbestos hands takes years of dedicated training in the art of burning yourself-we’re like Shaolin monks in that respect. That or we’ve got no social life!!
Nice to see you back.
Miles
November 18, 2008 @ 8:46 pm