My backup chafing dish failed during a 40 person catering gig last Saturday

We had a wedding brunch in Portland and the hotel kitchen's chafing fuel just would not stay lit. I used to only carry one extra can of gel fuel, but after swapping flames three times on the fly, I learned the hard way that cheap windscreens can blow out the whole setup. Now I keep two spare burners and a butane torch in my kit. Has anyone else had a chafing dish blow out mid service?

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finley_flores281mo ago

Have you ever noticed how the backup for the backup is always the one that actually saves you? That cheap windscreen thing resonates with me, because I feel like the same pattern shows up everywhere, not just in catering. Like, my friend's spare tire was flat when she finally needed it, and my parents' extra flashlight had dead batteries during a power outage. It's almost like the stuff we prep for the worst case is the stuff we never test, so it fails right when we need it most. Now I double check the spare gear just as hard as the main gear, which is annoying but honestly beats scrambling mid service.

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king.lisa1mo ago

Last summer I packed a second sterno canister for a clam bake and it was empty when I cracked it open, just a hollow shell, so I always laughed at people who bragged about their backups. But you're right, that spare tire thing hit me hard because my dad's jumper cables were corroded the one time my battery died in the rain. Now I test every single backup the same way I test the main gear, which is a pain, but one time it saved me at a retirement party when the main burner flickered out and the spare lit first try.

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