USVI-On-Line

After reading the wonton incident story I feel I have to comment on the experience.

While the "Private Chef" service is popular on St. John, I have to question the skill and training of the "Chefs" sent in to cook. It seems as though anyone can open a business on St. John and call themselves a caterer or a Chef.

If the "Chef" was formally trained, he would have known to NEVER throw flour on a hot oil fire. Flour is a combustible and it caused the explosion, not partially frozen wontons.

A real Chef would have known to put a lid on the stock pot and remove the pot from the heat immediately. Futhermore, exactly how much oil was in the pot and why did he allow the oil to get to the flash point of 500 - 600 degrees? This is way too high of a heat and too much oil to simply cook wontons for 4 people.

Secondly, why in the world would a "professional" Chef turn his back to the stove during a grease fire?

Lastly, if the "Chef" has been hired through a catering company, why is the catering company using frozen wontons out of a box that was most likely purchased from Cost-U-Less on St. Thomas? The wontons should have been made by hand using only fresh ingredients.

The villa owners are extremely fortunate that this hot oil fire / explosion did not burn the villa to the ground.

I stongly believe the "Private Chef" industry needs to be monitored and licensed. The Chefs should be required to have a formal Culinary background and be trained / licensed in safety and fire prevention.

There is no explanation for how this incident was handled by the Chef, and more so, a black eye on the catering industry by KatiLady herself.

If you do not know how to cook or do not understand the principles of heat, get out of the kitchen and DO NOT own a catering company.

If you read the account I don't think he ever used the flour.
But I agree there's no explanation for the handling by the namesake of the company.
And the owners are fortunate that these renters handled is as they did. That's just my opinion.

I agree with you Stacy - who ever was cooking was not a professional chef in my mind. There were just too many things that didn’t jive. The best part is that no one got hurt and the villa is still standing.

stongly believe the "Private Chef" industry needs to be monitored and licensed. The Chefs should be required to have a formal Culinary background and be trained / licensed in safety and fire prevention

While I agree that the whole situation was poorly handled by the catering company, I have to disagree with your comment. Any food service worker in any restaurant could have had this happen, and we don’t require them to be licensed. The catering company should have insurance and licensing and just like a restaurant they can hire whomever they choose. You can go to a fine dining restaurant that charges $30 an entrée and have it prepared by someone that was not professionally trained. It is not a prerequisite to work in a kitchen. In fact, I can call myself a chef based on the dictionary’s definition”
chef ʃɛf - Show Spelled Pronunciation[shef] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. the chief cook, esp. in a restaurant or hotel, usually responsible for planning menus, ordering foodstuffs, overseeing food preparation, and supervising the kitchen staff.
2. any cook.


From what I have been told, Kent is an accomplished Chef and as Tammy stated, he knows his way around a kitchen. It was an accident. Plain and simple.

I hate to cast doubt, but I do wonder if the motives of the OP are questionable?

People fry frozen french fries all the time without explosion or fire. I think this was an accident and as Marybeth stated, Kent did not throw flour on the fire, he thought about it, but the fire died down.

Going back and re-reading the account, it's not entirely clear that the oil actually caught fire. It says that the chef "thought" it was a grease fire.

My take on it was that the "explosion" was caused by steam released when the ice in the frozen wontons hit the hot oil. The same way people nearly kill themselves every year deep-frying partially frozen turkeys. He may have done everything right except make sure the wontons were fully thawed.

Throwing flour on a fire does seem not-quite-right, though. Ever seen a grain silo go up? Not pretty.

The wontons were homemade and they were delicious- we did get some. His credentials are on their website. He told me they have a container with new oil and old oil. I'm wondering if there wasn't something in the container other than cooking oil??? He was washing dishes when his back was turned, the flame was gone. We even wondered if maybe he was outside and not around when it happened. I wish we knew, but I am very glad I was not in the kitchen when this happened. The whole thing is crazy!!!