Everyone likes to imagine that they’re Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen. I’ve most certainly muttered “It’s RAW” under my breath when checking for the doneness of my steak more than once in my life. But having fun as a TV personality aside, it’s important to take safety seriously when in the kitchen.
Why? Because it’s when we get complacent that mistakes happen, and the kitchen is an easy place to have painful little accidents. Ask any professional chef and they will show you the plentiful scars on their forearms as proof that cooking can be a dangerous profession. It seems a little daft to write about safety when professional chefs themselves can’t escape the scars of the kitchen, but we’re doing our best to ensure that you are as safe as you can possibly be.
Being a great cook isn’t all have to do with being knowledgeable in the kitchen. A reliable set of tools is needed for any chef to perform at their best. If you’re in the market for some new kitchenware so that you can be an exceptional home cook, do take a look into kitchenware online. They have some fantastic products that are unparalleled in quality and craftsmanship for the price.
One of the most important things that you can start doing as a chef is learning to use a knife properly. You probably think you already know how to use a knife but you’re probably wrong. The correct method to hold a knife is called a pinch grip and involves pinching the blade with your index and thumb while the other fingers balance the handle in your palm. Learning to use a knife like this will make you a far safer home cook and will make you far more adept with the knife. In addition, you will also want to keep your blade nice and sharp because a sharp blade is far easier to control and as a result is far safer to use and be around.
When cutting a variety of ingredients, make sure you have separate cutting boards for fruits and veggies, fish, poultry, and meat. This is so that the harmful pathogens in one food don’t cross-contaminate the other food. Having separate cutting boards is just standard safe practice and will make your life far safer in general.
Another thing that you should watch out for is to always make it a point to wash your hands. It’s not like you’re immune to pathogens. You can be carrying pathogens when you start to cook, and you won’t even know about it. The truth is that pathogens from your hands can very easily contaminate the food that you’re cooking and make it unsafe to eat. Going barefoot is also something that we don’t recommend. Because things in the kitchen have a propensity to fall when operated by a rushed chef, there is a chance that blades or scissors could fall onto your feet at any moment. If you’re not wearing closed-toe shoes when this happens, you might just have to suffer the consequences.
