Sunday, September 16, 2007

Please Stand By...

I burned my left hand (the entire palm and all fingers) pretty badly this evening while making the Five-Spice Roasted Maine Lobster. I also singed a small section of my right palm, so it's difficult (not to mention really painful) to type right now. I'm going to sit here with ice packs wrapped around both hands and hope they're not going to blister as badly as it looks like they will.

This sucks. I feel like such a loser. Note to self, remember which pans on your stovetop were in the oven for 90 minutes and then DON'T PICK THEM UP BY THE HANDLE WITH YOUR BARE HANDS.

Be back soon....

p.s. -- Happy birthday, Mom.

29 comments:

Jo said...

Best wishes to no blisters! I hope your hand heals up quickly. Lot's of aloe vera will help. Also send someone out to get some numbing spray . I forget what it's called but it has benzocaine in it, and it's an aerosol spray. Antiseptic and numbing.

Anonymous said...

Ouch! Hope they get better soon! When I burned my hand badly last year, I found that rubbing a sliced tomato on it helped the most. Weird, I know, but it got me to stop wanting to jump up and down yelling about flames on my hands whenever I took off the ice pack...

Unknown said...

Owwie ow ow owwie ow. And been there, done that before (actually, my dumb ass usually does it about once a year). Hope it heals quickly....

meekerz said...

Ouch! Hope your hands get better soon.

Anonymous said...

Oh no!!! I second the sliced tomato thing-- it worked for me last year when I did the same thing you did. Ooohhh... hope it doesn't blister too much.. ouch.

Unknown said...

Oooh, you're not a dumbass. You've made the same boo-boo a lot of, "professionals" in the industry have as well.

Every time I look at my left bicep, I'm treated to a 3" scar where a sheet-pan I took out of an oven slid back and BBQ-q me good.

It means you cook. A lot. For what it's worth, wear it as a badge-of-pride... and forever more, remember to leave a dish towel on top of anything you remove hot and leave sitting about :-)

Keep on cookin'

Meredith said...

In the pro kitchen, burns are badges of honor; whereas knife cuts are marks of stupidity (guess which I have more of). Wear yours with pride!

Heather said...

There must have been something in the water this weekend...I'm sporting a nice large bandaid on the back of my hand today thanks to an "incident" with the oven Friday night. Hope you feel better!

Kitt said...

Oooh, ouch. But now you're ready for a life of crime. No fingerprints!

Unknown said...

Funny thing...I did the exact same thing last year and my co-workers all laughed at me. This was my recovery process. Day one and two...painful beyond belief (sleeping was hard without heavy drugs). Day three and four sleeping went back to normal, but daily routines were still a chore. Day Five and six... still tender but was able to use my hand more and more... Day seven still healing but could use regularly. The body is an amazing thing.

Liz said...

There is a burn ointment called "Foille" that works really well at easing the pain. I burned the side of my hand about half an hour before we were having 50 people over for a party and the pharmacist told me to use it and I didn't have to keep my hand in ice water the whole party.

Anonymous said...

Get better soon!

We all make that mistake sooner or later. Hopefully you will only make it once! (I've done it three times. Some people never learn!)

Anonymous said...

Carol, ow! Hope the recovery goes well. My children and I are doing a lot of cooking together and a couple of days ago I told them that at some point they would both cut themselves and burn themselves. Their 8 year old eyes widened - and then they kind of talked about how it would be OK since it's part of learning how to be a good cook. So far no blood no blisters - but it's coming...

Anonymous said...

Get thee to a kitchen store and pick up a few pot handle sleeves. They are thick like a pot holder and shaped to slip right over the handles. Any time I take a pan out of the oven, I do it with one of these and leave it on to prevent burns. Go get some now!

Anonymous said...

I made the same mistake a few years ago.
It was that night that I discovered that frozen bananas work great when this happens. They fit in the palm of your hand, the alleviate (somewhat) the pain and, well, you've used up a banana.

Anonymous said...

Wishing you a speedy recovery! I feel your pain as I've been there. For me it's usually the oven, at 400 degrees, metal pan at least once a year - you get the idea...

Jim said...

Ohhh, jeez...you have my sympathies. But take heart, a life of cooking means you get to feel like a dumbass at least once in your life. I remember a certain party where my almost-chef older brother got a brand new knife straight through the hand because he was gesturing too grandly beside my father (who was chopping onions at the time)...

I hope you heal up, feel better, stat!

Jennifer said...

Ummm... so I guess it would be wrong of me to ask how the lobster turned out?!

Seriously, that's awful. And I've done it too. Get better soon.

Anonymous said...

Get better soon!

Anonymous said...

That completely sucks - take care of those mitts and I hope you're feeling better soon.

Just think - you didn't lose skin, you gained kitchen cred.

Anonymous said...

Dear Carol,
This is not your fault. Your burn is a direct result of the cookware industry not making progress in design standards despite all too frequent emergency room visits for its professionals and wannabe's.

If they can put a coating in the bottom of non stick skillet that changes color when the pan is preheated, why can't that same product go over the handles so that when they are oven heated, the freak'n handle is red instead of steel. Lord knows they already charge us enough for those pots n pans.

Our brains are wired to avoid red "hot" metal. It is not wired to avoid things that don't look hot. I hope your burns heal quickly and that those lobsters more than made up for the sizzle.
All the best...
rm

Anonymous said...

Man, I did this several years ago (god, probably 10 by now) with an old piece of calphalon (cast handle) that had just come out of the oven (400+ degrees).

I feel your pain. I am so sorry.

Richard

Unknown said...

I will put on oven mitts, take a pot or casserole dish out of the oven, put it on top of the stove, remove the oven mitts, then reach out to take off the lid.

That's why I like you so much....your just as "smrt" as I am!!!!

Anonymous said...

So sorry! Feel better, and try not to feel like a dumbass -- we've all done it. I once left an empty pot sitting on a burner that I forgot to turn off, so there it was, hot as newly-forged iron when I grabbed it full on to wash it. Ouch.

Get well soon!

queenofsheba said...

All the sympathies! Just please, if it is blistery and bad go to the doctor, and if it doesn't seem to be healing well, go to the doctor! A friend of mine has a terrific sugar scar that would have been much smaller if she hadn't turned out to be sensitive to the antibiotic ointment she was using... thus preventing it from healing quickly. And of course, we'll be here mostly patiently waiting until you are ready to get back in the kitchen.

bookwoman said...

In our kitchen there is a mantra, "Remember, hot items are hot!" It started with barehandedly taking a probe thermometer out of a turkey after 4 hours in the oven. And continues to this day. In other words, you are not alone! Heal well and heal quickly.

patricium said...

Yes, been there, done that a couple of times too. I've finally started sliding an oven mitt over the handle when I take the pan out of the oven, as a visual reminder that something's not as it seems. That helps.

That idea of a handle that turns red when it's hot is cool - I wish someone would do that.

Karen said...

Oh my gosh! I just checked in and saw this--so sad!!

This reminds me of my own gaffe as a 3-year-old when I laid my open hand on the side of my grandma's cast iron stove. Even though I was only 3, I have a vivid, almost photographic memory of sitting on the edge of an emergency ward bed and SCREAMING. Luckily, the photos that actually survive from the incident show me merrily waving my hand, trussed up in so much gauze I look like I've sprouted a big white drumstick.

Heal fast, use lots of aloe, and take CARE!

Anonymous said...

I'm right there with ya. I did the same thing about 10 months ago when I took a pan of chicken out of the oven. I burned the crap out of my palm and fingers the same way. Results?

1. A week of not using that hand

2. That dish is now called "Burnt-hand chicken" whenever I make it. (or sometimes "Pollo Mano Carbonora")

3. I now ALWAYS leave a pot holder on the handle of hot pans upon removing them from the oven.