The Scariest Kitchen Duties, In line with Severe Eats Editors

We right here at Severe Eats have a number of cooking expertise, together with fairly a little bit of time spent in skilled kitchens as cooks, line cooks, and bakers. However there are nonetheless loads of kitchen duties that set us trembling. So, simply in time for Halloween, listed here are the 9 meal-prep and cooking chores we worry probably the most. And none of them are carving a pumpkin.

Utilizing a Mandoline

This one topped the checklist for Daniel, Leah, and me. The horror, certainly.

“Blood, carnage, and terror: Utilizing a mandoline has all of the makings of an awesome horror film. Each chef I do know bears no less than one faint scar as proof. My worst kitchen accidents didn’t come from knives or open flames, they got here from that tiny plastic guillotine. It’s actually designed for decapitation, simply scaled down for produce.” —Leah Colins, senior culinary editor

“I’ve recurring intrusive ideas about by accident mixing my hand—the picture pops into my head in surprising moments and I shudder. When individuals ask what’s flawed, I lie, as a result of it’s kind of a lot to elucidate my waking nightmare of pulverizing my hand in a grotesque cyclone of gore. However that is not what actually scares me within the kitchen. That honor belongs to a mandoline, a instrument that in all my (many) skilled years of cooking I by no means managed to search out consolation with. I watch different cooks deftly slide their meals throughout the blade, their hand on high with no security guard to maintain their flesh protected. They run the meals proper right down to the final, thinnest slice, then transfer alongside as in the event that they did not come inside a millimeter of peeling their palm pores and skin, fingerprints and all, proper into the pile of paper-thin potatoes for chips. Oof, I simply can’t.” —Daniel Gritzer, editorial director

Chopping Avocados

“One among my first duties as a line cook dinner was to chop avocados for a salad. One hectic evening, I moved too quick and sliced my hand open—it was a complete massacre and I in all probability ought to have gone to the ER. I’ve discovered loads since then (like this system), however chopping avocados nonetheless places me on edge!” —Elizabeth Laseter, supervisor, development and content material technique

Grating Cheese on a Field Grater

“It isn’t simply the danger of grated fingers—although one distracted second might simply flip Pecorino right into a bloodied providing. I simply discover grating cheese dreadful. It takes perpetually, and it is messy. It is the one job I virtually at all times cross off to whoever affords assist in the kitchen. If I spot a field grater and a hunk of cheese, you will be positive I am going to vanish like a ghost.” —Laila Ibrahim, affiliate culinary editor

Utilizing a Stress Cooker

“Basically, I’m much more rooster than most of my colleagues—particularly those that’ve hung out in restaurant kitchens, the place it appears commonplace to stay your hand into boiling water and tolerate 1,000,000 tiny burns from splattering oil. Together with the mandoline (my primary worry), the strain cooker is a instrument that makes me very nervous. Whether or not it’s an old school stovetop mannequin or a newfangled model like an On the spot Pot, once I see a strain cooker, I simply think about an explosion of steam and stew in my face. I’m blissful to report that I’ve come a good distance in going through these fears, due to testing strain cooker recipes a couple of years in the past—with none carnage. However when given the choice, I’ll at all times select a sluggish braise within the oven or on the stovetop over the comfort of strain cooking.” —Megan O. Steintrager, affiliate editorial director

Roasting a Complete Duck

A entire roast duck is a showstopper, but it surely’s additionally a number of work and might go horribly flawed (greasy, powerful meat, ick!). I choose to simply get my roast duck on the native Asian market.   –Grace Kelly, senior editor

Deveining Shrimp

“OK, I’m not afraid of deveining shrimp, however I do discover it a tedious job. I wish to maintain my shrimp as intact as attainable, which implies rigorously extracting the vein with a toothpick or tweezers. My shoulders damage simply eager about this!” —Genevieve Yam, senior editor

Cooking Meat And not using a Thermometer

“I by no means ever cook dinner meat with out my trusty instant-read thermometer. It provides an correct temperature in a single second, and ensures my steaks are by no means overcooked and my rooster is rarely undercooked. I shudder to consider making grilled rooster thighs with out one.” —Rochelle Bilow, editor

Making Cacio e Pepe

“Not many dishes scare me, however the considered tossing yet one more of my gloopy, separated makes an attempt at cacio e pepe fills me with dread. Regardless of how arduous I attempt to average my warmth, how freshly I grate my pecorino, or how vigorously I combine, I’ve by no means gotten the standard methodology proper. Fortunately, Daniel lately shared his good cacio e pepe recipe, which makes use of a science-backed cornstarch slurry to stabilize the sauce. I feel it is given me the bravery I must strive once more.”—Ashlee Redger, author

Sharpening Glasses 

“Throughout my time working as a server, I dealt with loads of facet work that pushed my limits, however none scares me fairly like sharpening glasses. After a scorching martini glass shattered in my hand and left me with a deep reduce, I’ve prevented the duty ever since. Now that I am not in eating places, I’ve accepted my dwelling won’t ever have glowing glassware. If you happen to ever have dinner at my place, anticipate fingerprints and good firm as an alternative.” –Sadie Schulte, e-newsletter editor