ottawa foodies

So I was wondering what everyone uses to protect their hands from burning in the kitchen...

Kitchen Towel
Pot Holder
Traditional Oven Mitts
Silicone Oven Mitt

What do you reach for, when something is too hot to handle?

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I have a set of traditional oven mitts, I like them because they protect my hands as well as a good portion of my arms, important when reaching into a hot oven to remove a roast. I don't like Pot Holders because I ALWAYS seem to lose my grip, and end up burning myself. Haven't tried the Silicone Oven Mitt. Curious to find out if anyone uses one and how they like it.

My favorite is suede pot holders.... not crazy about the silicone type... maybe for the microwave they would be okay.

The "ove glove"!

www.oveglove.com/

It's basically a welder's glove. Works extremely well! But like anything cloth for this purpose, don't get it wet or the hot goes right through!

I have a pair of Ottawa Senators oven mits that were given to me last year for Father's Day. They do the job nicely and combine 2 of my enthusiams.....

However, several times a year I make 6-7 course meals in my efforts to fool myself into thinking I could be a top flight chef...... anyway, invariably about a once year I am juggling to many things, open the oven and forget about the oven mits.... and, go through some pain..... I think was last fall I had a bowl of cold water to dip my one hand in throught the meal.

cheers

I usually use potholders.

Like medicinejar, I occasionally have a lapse of judgement. About 2 months ago, I pulled a pot out of the oven using a potholder, and set it on top on the stovetop. I then proceeded to grab the lid off with my other hand, sans potholder. My fingerprint just re-formed.

Good ole clean kitchen rag. Works every time. Never failed me. I won't get into pet peeves of oven mits. They gross me out. To many people keep them for to long and never wash them..

I dream about getting real, honest-to-God welding gloves for my oven work. I still have a bit of a scar from where I tried to flip a cast iron skillet over while using a towel as my only means of protection.

Yeah, a real welding glove is longer on the arm so better than the ove glove. I'd like to get one too

I use a cloth, and sometimes an oven mitt if I think it's really necessary. We have these silicon grip thingies that work well for handling the dutch oven handles.

I bought a set of Pampered Chef gloves a few years ago and I really like them. they do have to be washed periodically but I've never burnt myself with them.

I have of bunch of these pig shaped silicon pot holders from Home Outfitters that are just great. They’re useful for handling food and objects and so easy to clean in the dishwasher. Also, they are so easy to put on and take off.

I don’t like using the full size silicon oven gloves as they limit my dexterity.

If you’re looking for welding gloves, they’re on sale for $3.88 a pair at Princess Auto. I use them for adjusting my BBQ smoker racks. The problem is they are hard to clean so after a few uses, I just throw them out.

Ewwww! We have a set of those silicone thingies at work.....no one likes them, they get sweaty inside!

At home I have some baker-weight oven mitts that I got at C.A. Paradis, but I find them a bit clumsy for regular-sized pots and pans. I prefer a nice clean towel, but the ones I have at home are thin and not useful for that. And things liked baked potatoes in foil I'll just grab out of the oven with my bare hands...foil doesn't seem all that conductive. I'll also grab things that are not too heavy out of the oven with tongs.

I like work gloves for picking up something for a short time, they do conduct some heat but you can grip things well with them.

I have a pair of silicone gloves I use when I actually have to handle the hot food, such as holding a roast.... I don't use them a lot but when I do I like them.

Highly recommend the Ove Glove - we have one and it's fabulous!

Oh yeah, another great thing about the Ove Glove is when you nuke something in a bowl out of which you intend to also eat said food, but the bowl gets too hot. I just don the Ove Glove in one hand, and a spoon or fork in the other :-)

After working in kitchens I normally use a clean towel or pot holders. Seems my hands have been conditioned to withstand higher temperatures - anyone else who's worked in a kitchen feel the same way?

Although it looks a little silly, that Ove Glove is tempting me. Too many close calls at home and I like zymurgist's microwaved bowl application :P

I can definitely believe that your hands would get used to the higher temperatures. Since it's not likely that I'll be working the line any time soon, though, I doubt I'll ever get to that point without just grabbing hot pan handles for the fun of it!

^ Haha momomoto. I suppose that's the only method of training. The magic is starting to dwindle on me though. It's been awhile since I worked in a restaurant and I find myself yelling "YOW!!!" more and more when I accidentally grab or even lightly touch a hot pot or pan.

As for the Ove Glove looking silly - mine is an earlier model and is just a plain glove without all that blue stuff on it. But actually I can definitely see where that anti-skid stuff would be useful.

Giant Tiger on Wellington had knock-off versions of the Ove Glove on sale for $3.93 for a PAIR! So my wife bought all 3 remaining pair :-) We paid $20 for the original and it was only a single.

Anyway, worth taking a look at your local one.

Monty - we used to say that the people in the kitchen with "un-conditioned" hands had "baby fingers".

I worked with guys who would dare each other to pick up hot stuff - hold hot baked potatoes pick up pans hot off the stove. Who had the bigger cahones They tried to tease me for using towels but I pointed out the reason it didn't 'burn' them was because they'd already done the damage to their nerve endings. And that just because the CAN pick it up with no pain doesn't mean they SHOULD.

Zy, that IS my local GT. :P

I'll have to keep an eye and see if they get anymore. Which floor were they found on?

Wife says upstairs in with the kitchen stuff.

I am fairly ammune to heat but do you use cooking cloves, silicone gloves when handling a roast extensively, and then of course the reliable kitchen towel.

A question that I raised in another thread ( www.ottawafoodies.com )about making cones for the Salmon Tartar cones by the french laundry.

In that recipe, you need to handle the dough/batter while its hot and wrap it around a cream horn mold. I found it too hot to work with well. The problem is you really do need to use your fingers and do some quasi precise moves with the dough. I was thinking about using latex but in another thread it might make things worse and I was better off wearing 2 pairs of latex gloves. That's my intention next time, but I am wondering what others think. I did google heat resistant cooking gloves online but they looked a little bulky to do this.

Cheers

Another option, but hard to find, is non-latex surgical gloves. We used to get them from Stranos/Sysco at a golf club I worked at just to use for handling hot foods. They really don't let the heat through.

I liked them even better than the latex gloves because they don't have all the powder in them.