Modernist-Cuisine-Vol.-1-Small

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DRESSING FOR THE JOB:
A CHEF’S HYGIENE ACCESSORIES
Cooks rightly worry about pots and pans, food and feces as potential
DON’Ts
DOs
sources of dangerous contaminants. But we are covered head to toe
with another abundant source of contamination: the hair and skin shed
so easily from our head, arms, face, and other body parts. Research by
the Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association in the United
Kingdom suggests that people lose a staggering amount of skin every
day, even though it’s all but invisible to us. Cooks need to dress with this
hazard in mind.
Cooks who are serious about
reducing sloughed-off hair and
skin forgo hairnets entirely and
Typical chef coats may be the
height of style, but they clearly
aren’t designed for the purpose
instead wear surgical caps or the
full paper hats favored by
Japanese sushi chefs.
of maintaining good kitchen
hygiene. Every time you reach out
or otherwise move your arm, the
coat’s loose, hanging cuff allows
A long-sleeved shirt should be mandatory if you
dead skin and hair to slough off
want to keep your stylish chef’s coat, so that your
and settle onto anything that
arms remain covered all the way down to your
happens to be below it.
wrists. When you’re handling sensitive food items,
you can pull your gloves up and over the sleeves.
Hairnets fail to control shedding. They do little more
than keep the biggest hairs from falling into food and
upsetting your customers.
Paper towels are more expensive
but far more hygienic.
Cloth towels are among the worst
hygiene offenders in the kitchen.
A single towel often comes in
contact with hands, cutting
surfaces, utensils, and other
equipment, greatly increasing the
chances of cross-contamination.
A long shirt with elastic cuffs and
gloves pulled over the cuffs,
similar to a surgeon’s outfit, is
Take off rings, bracelets, and watches, which can
trap contaminants and make it harder to clean your
hands properly.
Lace-up shoes trap food scraps,
hair, and skin, and they afford
little protection against hot oil
and liquid nitrogen spills.
Wear clogs or other
shoes with smooth,
solid uppers.
the uniform of choice in commercial
food processing plants,
which must maintain the strictest
levels of hygiene. That may seem
like overkill, but for easily
contaminated foods such as
sushi and ice cream, it isn’t.
202 VOLUME 1 ·· HISTORY AND FUNDAMENTALS
FOOD SAFETY 203