The Philadelphia Story

And you thought O.J. was bad. When Le Bec-Fin chef Georges Perrier sliced four of his fingers in a food processor, it made the front pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer for two days running last week.

Granted, Le Bec-Fin is the big deal in high-end Philly dining, but you get the feeling the story might have been trumpeted more for the pun factor than anything else. The Inquirer as much as admitted this in a guffaw-laden third story headlined: “Maladroit the Chef’s Story, a Philadelphia Slice of Life.”

It was, said the writer, “a close encounter of the messy kind.” And the dish of destruction: “The Mousse That Gored.”

As for Perrier, from all reports he’s recovering nicely, although he’ll have to undergo rehabilitation for his right hand. It seems he stuck it into a running Robot Coupe to taste some fish mousse. Food processors come with safety shields that must be in place for the express purpose of preventing such accidents, but in many kitchens it’s common practice to jimmy the safety lock.