Food Tongs
Food tong is A kitchen utensil used to grasp food so it can be
moved from one location to another to be flipped, rotated, adjusted, or
retrieved from areas that may be hot or simply best handled with a Tong.
Available as tension activated, spring loaded, or scissor type designs, there
are many different tongs with sizes available for a variety of uses. Tongs are
constructed of stainless steel, wood, nylon, aluminum, and other heat resistant
materials with a few designs having plastic or silicon coated areas on the
handles as well as the Tong tips to provide a more comfortable or secure hold
when grasping and holding various food items. Tongs coated with soft, heat
resistant silicon have an ability to gently grip foods such as eggs or tender
vegetables for removal from boiling water and cooking pans. Most heat resistant
silicon on utensils produced today can typically withstand temperatures in
excess of 500ºF.
Varying in general sizes that range from 6 to 20
inches in length, Tongs are available for numerous types of food preparation
activities.
- Smaller sized Tongs, often referred to as "serving Tongs," are used for handling small ingredients during the preparation of foods or during the serving. Most often made with either a forked or flattened ends, the smaller Tongs work well to handle small servings of foods in buffets or on appetizer plates and trays such as cheeses, meats, vegetables, and fruits.
- Tongs that are larger in size are generally used for placing or removing foods when grilling, stove top cooking or oven baking where the longer length keeps hands away from heat and the size allows easier grasping of items.
- Since larger Tongs can spread up to 10 inches when open, many will have locking mechanisms that enable the Tongs to be locked together for storage or for holding some items more securely.
When selecting Tongs, two key points to consider are
the type of use and the type of gripping ends desired. If the Tongs are to be
used for delicate food items, a flat, slightly scalloped or padded end may be
best. Some of the scalloped ends vary in depth, so delicate or semi-delicate
foods are best served with a more gentle scallop rather than one that is deep.
The deeper scallop is best for serving irregularly shaped objects, such as
potatoes or other similar items. Flat, uncushioned ends do not work well for
all types of foods, especially heavy or large objects, which may have a
tendency to slide away from a flat surface. If much of the food being prepared
using Tongs is small in size, it is definitely better to have tongs with small
or delicate ends where precise or gentle retrival or placement is more
important. Some Tongs that have spiked or forked ends assist with gripping
chores. Also, consider the comfort desired when using tongs. Larger hands find
it easier to hold bulky Tongs, but smaller hands typically do not, so make sure
the size of the utensil feels comfortable for the use.
Potato Masher
A potato masher is a food preparation
utensil used to crush cooked food. Its name comes from its most common use:
crushing cooked potatoes for mashed potatoes. it's made of stainless steel and you can washed with soap and rinsed with clean water.
The potato masher consists of a handle connected to
a mashing head. The handle can either be upright or sideways. There are two
types of heads. The first is a large gauge wire in a rounded zig-zag shape. The
second is a plate with holes or slits (as shown). The potato or other food is
mashed by grabbing the handle and pushing down on the foodstuff.
Pastle Mortar
The mortar and pestle are ancient tools that no
modern kitchen should be without. They’re handy for everything from cracking
peppercorns and crushing tender herbs to making pesto and guacamole. Yet, these
days, electric spice grinders and food processors often take their place, and
that’s a pity, because after testing an assortment of mortars and pestles,
we’re convinced that a good set can perform as well—or even better—at many
tasks.
Of the 18 mortars and pestles we tested, many models
frustrated us or proved to be of limited use, but a few workhorses were
delightfully versatile and excelled at every task we threw at them, including
crushing garlic, spices, and nuts.
What to look for:
In performing our tests, we discovered that
material, shape, and size are the key characteristics to look at when shopping
for a mortar and pestle.
The ideal material for a mortar and pestle is
something hefty and very hard. It shouldn’t be so rough as to be porous or
difficult to clean, nor should it be so smooth as to be slippery. The Thai
granite model above embodied our ideal: Literally rock hard, its matte surface
created friction for grinding but was smooth enough to wipe clean easily, and
its heft made crushing a breeze. Several other stone models were also very
effective. However, an Italian marble mortar paired with a light, relatively
soft wood pestle failed to impress because the pestle required us to work
harder to achieve good results, and it couldn’t grind cumin seed.
In fact, all the wood mortars and pestles we tried seemed too light and soft to
be effective at all the tasks we wanted them to do. Other materials, too, had
shortcomings: With porcelain, breaking was a concern (one model we tested broke
on the first use). And slick surfaces like stainless steel let ingredients slip
around too much.
The best mortars have a deeply rounded shape that
keeps ingredients from jumping or spilling out. Wider, shallow shapes don’t
contain ingredients as well. A stable base is also important. When it
comes to pestles, many are too narrow and rounded, so ingredients readily pop
out from under them. A broader, more gently rounded base works far better.
As for size, think big rather than small. If
you’re looking to buy just a single mortar and pestle, a capacious mortar can
mash small quantities just as well as large. But a too-small mortar is,
ultimately, of limited use and lets ingredients pop out (the low-profile model
at far right, however, innovatively solves this problem).
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