Kitchen Essentials: Tongs

One thing that should be in your container of kitchen utensils is a set of tongs. They are extraordinarily handy and can used as an extension of your hands.

Keep them near your stove top and use them for many of your cooking needs: Distribute a sauce on pasta before plating, give vegetables a stir while they're roasting, flip a pork chop under the broiler, hold up a thick steak to brown the sides, toss a salad, grab a hot cookie sheet out of the oven -- the possibilities are endless. They're not perfect for everything, however: If you're cooking something like a thin fish filet, using tongs to turn it could risk tearing the delicate flesh (try a spatula instead).

Oxo's kitchen tongs are some of the best out there (Oxo tongs are available at most major kitchen retailers and range from about $9.99 for the 9" tongs and $13.99 for the 16" model). They lock shut for storage and open wide enough to be useful, but not so wide as to be unmanageable. In addition, they come in several sizes and options (stainless or silicone ends, the latter for use on nonstick surfaces). If you don't have a set yet, get yourself some -- you'll be glad you did.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Laren Spirer in Food on March 9, 2008 12:24 PM

Comments [rss]

Laren Spirer

Believe it or not, people cook in New York City!!

SP

Less tongs, more thongs!

Gwinny

What do tongs have to do with New York City?

Myszka

Check out these gravity-lock tongs ($19.99). http://www.kitchenkaboodle.com/product_detail2.php?sku=12915%212127&multi=1 You point them down to lock and unlock, so you don't even need a second hand to lock and unlock the pin that comes on the OXO tongs.

bklynd

Ha, Rocknrope, you are correct that the OXO mandoline is disappointing.

All this reminds me that my damn salad spinner is broken. I keep forgetting to pick one up, and then I'm making a salad, and, well, it's pretty annoying.

mocanlagunas

and this is Gothamist because...?

Rocknrope

Most of OXO's products are great, with the exception of their straight-blade mandoline. Their v-slicer is better.

foodlover

my girlfriend got me the oxo tongs after i said i needed some. these tongs are great!

MaiaW

Scratch that - Ikea's are a third the Oxo price!

MaiaW

I like the Oxo designs, but Ikea can't be beat on kitchenware prices, (and their designs are comparable). Ikea's tongs (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/cata... are half the Oxo price. Granted, if you don't live near an Ikea, price may not matter so much!

chaevans

I like oxo but their tongs blow. It has to be the worst cheapest made product they have.

jake dobkins art history thesi

I LOVE to pick things up with Oxo-Brand Tongs. Oxo uses the best materials and I just LOVE them, and the OXO company too! Can you post any other adver- I mean, opinion pieces - about the Oxo company and their fine, fine products? Thanks!

Eoin MacNeill

The soft silicone nonstick tongs are very useful. I spent almost a year flipping things in my nonstick fry-pans with a wooden spoon, fearing that combination of my regular tongs and lack of manual dexterity would scratch the crap out of them.