Kitchen Tool School: the Essential Stainless Steel Retainers
On many professional stoves, tongs are described as bad technique, lazy and even disrespectful way of cooking. But the truth is, tongs are useful for almost everything you do in your home kitchen.
Use tongs to toast noodles, season salads, flip steaks without piercing them, remove hot dogs from the beer tub, sauté vegetables over a fire, and even remove bread stuck in a toaster. Please note that not all kitchen tongs are created equal. If you’re looking for a new pair, the OXO is a great place to start, especially with its $ 12 Good Grips 9-inch Pliers . They are durable, with non-slip grips, a tongue lock, scalloped edges and even thumb rests so you can hold them comfortably for extended periods of time. The lock has a hanging hole (or try storing them in a drawer this way for maximum space). The shorter 9 “length provides the most controlled movement, so they are a great starting pair, although you can purchase the longer 12” or 16 “tongs if you spend a lot of time turning food, for example. in front of a hot grill.
In addition to their primary function as a heat-resistant pair of hands, clamping tongs are also great for a lesser-known set of tasks both inside and outside the kitchen. When preparing food, tongs can double as a citrus expander (insert the cut end of a citrus half into the jagged edges of a pair of closed tongs) or, as a last resort, a beer opener (use long arm tongs). It’s also a great way to better grab lemons before juicing .
In addition to the kitchen, use them to grab things from hard-to-reach shelves , look for something that has fallen into a hard-to-reach place, or toss things that you are too tormented to touch with your bare hands. Oh, and hey: a scratching post for the back, anyone? It can hardly be said that the humble kitchen tong does not deserve respect.