Chef Anne Burrell Sounds Off on Kitchen Injuries: 'Wrap It Up in Plastic' and Move On

"We derive pleasure from giving other people pleasure," Burrell said about why she won't let a kitchen injury come between her and restaurant guests

• Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray shared how they continue to cook — even if they get burned or cut in the kitchen — when Burrell appeared on Ray's podcast, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
• Burrell said if she gets cut, she'll "wrap it up in plastic wrap" and "worry about it later"
• They also talked about the challenges of being "tough" women, saying that women aren't allowed to be both "badass" and "nice"

When you’re a chef, the show must go on — even if you’re injured.

Anne Burrell and Rachael Ray commiserated on how they handle kitchen injuries on the Dec. 3 episode of Ray’s podcast, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.

“It's about service, and it's about when can I get the food out and did the food survive?” Ray, 56, said, prompting her real-life friend and Food Network alum to talk about continuing to cook even if they get hurt.

“When things like that happen, you just, like, push on. You don't even think about it even in the moment, and you just carry on. And it's like, alright. Let's get the job done. What do we have to do?” Burrell, 55, said.

Burrell continued: “You burn yourself. You cut yourself, wrap it up in plastic wrap, and, like, we'll just get it done and worry about it later. I’ll think about and look at my war wounds when service is over or whatever.”

But Burrell also said that years of handling “hot stuff” in the kitchen has had a lasting effect: “I always say that I have asbestos hands, asbestos fingers. Like, I could commit crimes because I have no fingerprints.”

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“When I'm cooking at home and I will hand, Stuart, my husband, something that I think is barely even warm, and he's like, ‘Whoa!’ And I'm like, ‘Oh my God, sorry.”

Ray asked Burrell where she gets the motivation to continue cooking — even through injuries — saying, “How did you get to the point that you care about other people more than yourself, service more than yourself, the food more than yourself?”

“Always from when I was a little little girl, [I] loved the idea of hospitality and providing and spreading joy,” Burrell said. “My mom hates it when I say this, but I'm like, ‘Oh, as a chef, I'm a professional pleasure provider.’ “

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“And she's like, ’Do you have to say it that way?’ I'm like, ‘Yes. Yes. I do.’ “

“But I think that's sort of like in a chef's DNA,” Burrell said. “That's what we do, and we derive pleasure from giving other people pleasure.”

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“I love that you put it that way. It is so much fun to give, and you are thought of as a badass in life, and you are. You're tough. You're strong,” Ray said, prompting Burrell to sound off on the challenges of being considered “tough” when you’re a woman.

“I think that it's kind of funny that because you're a tough, strong woman, that you can't be kind and nice at the same time or feminine … She's either tough, or she's nice, or she's feminine. Like, why can't it just be all of those things? And why does it have to feel like a novel concept to have a woman that is all of those kind of things?” 

“This is also the reason why I wear skirts in the kitchen,” Burrell said. “It was a way always to sort of maintain my femininity. Yeah. I'm a badass girl chef — and I own that, and I love that — but I'm also a woman.”

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