The second most useful tool in my kitchen are my tongs (knives are first). \u00a0I have 3 pairs: long metal, short metal and short plastic tipped (for use in non-stick pans). \u00a0I use them to lift and replace food in the pan, remove hot pot lids, adjust hot oven racks, retrieve food bits that have fallen out of the pan and into the flame of the stove, toss salads, serve food at the table, etc., etc. \u00a0They are multi-purpose and, much like my knives, work perfectly as a heat-resistant extension of my own arm.<\/p>\n

There are times when my plastic tongs are covered in Caesar dressing from recently tossing a salad, the short metal tongs covered in coddled egg (from when the dressing was made) and the long tongs covered in grease splatter from the stove top because I left them too close to the pan. \u00a0When these situations arise and I need a delicate touch to, say, flip cro\u00fbtons on a baking sheet, I reach for my tong substitute: chopsticks.<\/p>\n

We have many pairs of plastic chopsticks. \u00a0While great for feeding oneself, they are poor tong substitutes. \u00a0I have exquisite chopstick technique (so I\u2019m told) and have eaten fancy business dinners in Asia without embarrassing myself, but I am thoroughly convinced that Asian people conceived plastic chopsticks specifically to confund Westerners. \u00a0There is no reason that a device that depends on friction should be made from the slipperiest material available. \u00a0I presume glass was too expensive for common chopstick manufacturing? \u00a0Second, plastic melts. \u00a0It is ill designed to fetch morsels that have fallen below the pan next to the flame. \u00a0I\u2019m not sure wood would be better in this case, although it does remedy my first gripe. \u00a0Lastly, chopsticks are not strong enough to lift pot-lids or adjust hot oven-racks. \u00a0That, or I am not a strong enough chopstick user. \u00a0(Sidebar: cool idea for a new world’s-strongest-man event – who can lift the heaviest item with chopsticks? Someone call ESPN. \u00a0This idea is \u2122TFB.)\u00a0 So, despite the flair with which Ming Tsai uses them in the kitchen, I\u2019ll say, for me, chopsticks are a poor substitute for tongs. \u00a0But, alas, I have found a new substitute: spoons.<\/p>\n

$\"Spoons$ <\/a>
Step 2: Holding the first spoon<\/p><\/div>\n
Step 3: <\/strong>
\nGrasp a spoon between your thumb and pointer finger so that when making a fist, the two spoons meet (concave to concave or concave to convex depending on how tight of a grip you need). \u00a0If it\u2019s more comfortable, rest the handle in your palm.<\/p>\n
\n
$\"Spoons$ <\/a>
Step 3 - Grasp the second spoon<\/p><\/div>\n
Step 4: <\/strong>
\nTo use, move ONLY one spoon. \u00a0Just like chopsticks. \u00a0I find it easier to move the woven spoon from step 2.
\n <\/strong><\/p>\n
Step 5: <\/strong>
\nUse to grasp, capture, lift, adjust, retreive, serve anything youre strong enough to lift.\u00a0 Once I had this technique down I started using spoons to pick up everything in the apartment.\u00a0 I can get our smaller cat by the scruff. \u00a0Just kidding, although I smell another world’s-strongest-man event in the making (\u2122TFB).<\/p>\n
\n
$\"Spoons$ <\/a>
Now you can pick up anything!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The second most useful tool in my kitchen are my tongs (knives are first). \u00a0I have 3 pairs: long metal, short metal and short plastic tipped (for use in non-stick pans). \u00a0I use them to lift and replace food in the pan, remove hot pot lids, adjust hot oven racks, retrieve food bits that have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[125],"tags":[250],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3822"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3828,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3822\/revisions\/3828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}