Blood and Cuts, Kitchen War Stories - Part 2

I went out to do my work study from culinary school after my first year and was really fortunate to land a job in a really well run and extremely prestigious kitchen. I learned more in one year there than I thought I could possibly absorb. One of the things I learned was how to keep a kitchen running on a busy night when an important station goes down. Another was that taxi cabs don't want bleeding cooks in their cabs in nice neighborhoods. Even if they are well compensated. Here are the details of one very busy night.

We were absolutely slammed. I was working the far end of the line, the sweat box. The station was so tight that only small people could work in it if they hoped to pass behind coworkers or leave to restock. The opposite end of the line was Garde Manger. It was the only station that wasn't fiercely hot. Hot, cold dishes don't sell well. To insulate this station from the heat it was separated by the rest of us except for a little window in which we could communicate if we had components to coordinate. In the middle of the worst slam, the garde manger cook puts up his hand in the little window and makes it look like he has put his French knife through it. After a little snicker, the line basically told him to stop f-in around. We were way too busy. Back to the ranges.

The problem was that he wasn't kidding.

A few minutes passed and we hear the poor guy start to whimper for the Chef de Cuisine. Apparently, in his rush to get ahead of the orders, he swung a weighted knife at an avocado pit which split like an eggshell. Unfortunately the pit was still in his hand at that point. The hilt of the knife was sunk all the way down to his palm. The Executive Chef starts running for him and puts him up against a wall. First to elevate his arm, and second to stop him from bleeding all over his mise en place. Come to think of it, I'm not sure which was the first priority. Then a bad thing happened. The sous chef pulled out the knife and blood started pumping like an episode of ER. OK, freak out time. Now the guy is turning white. He's nauseous and panic is setting in.

ORDERING...2 ribs, 1 hen , and a side of....."holy hell who cares?" ...but they were serious. There was a dining room full of guests who waited for reservations. This encapsulated the essence of hard core professional kitchens.

So we cooked. The sous chef took the cold station over and the chef somehow figured out how to get a blood soaked cook to the ER without being noticed. I have to this day no earthly idea how that was accomplished as there is no rear exit out of the property. This pair, one half passed out from blood loss, made it through the main bar without clearing it. Impressive. I did hear that the Chef had to tip the taxi owner huge and beg a little to get him to take the poor guy. Apparently the thought of getting someone to the doctor before they bled out was not nearly payment enough.

In the end the cook was fine. He was out of commission for about 8 weeks though. Apparently he cut an artery and when the knife was drawn out the artery shrank back into his arm so they had to open him to the elbow to repair the wound.

Like I said, If your gonna go to the ER from a commercial kitchen, better make it a doozie!