March 9, 2008
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.
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I have a pair of these and they're one of my most used kitchen tools. Great for frying...
Could you clarify if this is an independent opinion or paid endorsement?
It's not a paid endorsement. And we wrote about measuring spoons last time.
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.
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!
I like oxo but their tongs blow. It has to be the worst cheapest made product they have.
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/catalog/products/50082649) are half the Oxo price. Granted, if you don't live near an Ikea, price may not matter so much!
Scratch that - Ikea's are a third the Oxo price!
my girlfriend got me the oxo tongs after i said i needed some. these tongs are great!
Most of OXO's products are great, with the exception of their straight-blade mandoline. Their v-slicer is better.
and this is Gothamist because...?
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.
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.
What do tongs have to do with New York City?
Less tongs, more thongs!
Believe it or not, people cook in New York City!!