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Aprons: Do you use one?


annecros

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Both of my Grandmothers wore aprons while they were in the kitchen.  My Mother only had one on if she was dressed up, like for Thanksgiving.

I've never worn one in my life, but I might. :wink:

Heh, you better wear that apron, you earned it!

It is funny that you mentioned the "dressed up" must put on an apron thing. I only use my horrible looking one when I am dressed up, but, it is simply horrible!

I like the pocket idea, and I love cotton so much. I would think that something bleachable would be practicle as well.

And honestly, when you are dressed up, you want to look pretty.

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I wear aprons at work, where I rarely cook these days. On the rare occasion that I do a demo or tv spot I wear one.

At home I never wear one. The trick, of course, is learning how to deal with the stains. Oil used to drive me crazy. But now I can get them out.

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Nope. I don't wear aprons. The only one I still have is a dainty "tea apron" I made in fifth grade sewing class. I've never found Western aprons particularly practical because they don't cover the parts that seem to get splashed the most. I used to have a Japanese kappogi -- a kind of backwards sleeved smock that covers one's front from shoulders to hips -- but it disappeared years ago. Maybe I should buy this pattern and make some! I usually cook in an oversized T-shirt, then change into nicer clothes before guests arrive.

SuzySushi

"She sells shiso by the seashore."

My eGullet Foodblog: A Tropical Christmas in the Suburbs

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Maybe I should buy this pattern and make some!

Suzy: WhooHoo, you apron-enabler you! When my life returns to anything approaching real life I'm ordering that pattern, and watch out Christmas list.

I've admitted to being an apron nerd, so let me tell you about a two buck apron --olive drab-- I bought at an Army Surplus place and copied in frivolous fabrics. It's a rectangle of cotton a yard long, full width of the bolt. Topstiched to the front, about four inches down, (waist level) a few feet apart are two long ties of twill tape -- plenty to wrap around even the portliest cook and tie in the front to accomodate a side towel. It's related to a bistro apron, but because the ties are lower than the top hem it protects the four inches above the waist that pick up all the flour when you're rolling out a pie crust. You can make one in ten minutes if you skip the embroidery and rickrack.

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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I used to wear a plain white apron that belonged to my grandfather since I am the messiest cook in the world, but if I am dressed up at all I have taken to wearing a denim chef's jacket that my wife bought me purely for the full coverage aspect. Is it pretentious to wear a chef's jacket at home?

Get your bitch ass back in the kitchen and make me some pie!!!

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I used to wear a plain white apron that belonged to my grandfather since I am the messiest cook in the world, but if I am dressed up at all I have taken to wearing a denim chef's jacket that my wife bought me purely for the full coverage aspect. Is it pretentious to wear a chef's jacket at home?

Why shouldn't the house chef dress like one? :wink:

KathyM

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I am also a messy cook, but don't use an apron because of the coverage. I usually put on my "cooking" clothes (previously stained clothing) when I make something messy. I was thinking of using a lab coat like the kind I used when I worked for a pharmacutical company. They even make flame resistant coats.

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I always wear an apron - it means I can cook with gay abandon and not even think about my clothes. I have quite a few very utilitarian ones, but I am going to get myself (or make myself if I can find the time) a few of the retro 50's sort that are in a lot of the gift shops now.

Happy Feasting

Janet (a.k.a The Old Foodie)

My Blog "The Old Foodie" gives you a short food history story each weekday day, always with a historic recipe, and sometimes a historic menu.

My email address is: theoldfoodie@fastmail.fm

Anything is bearable if you can make a story out of it. N. Scott Momaday

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I am also a messy cook, but don't use an apron because of the coverage. I usually put on my "cooking" clothes (previously stained clothing) when I make something messy. I was thinking of using a lab coat like the kind I used when I worked for a pharmacutical company. They even make flame resistant coats.

In another incarnation I was a hospital lab tech. and have often wished I had some of those lab coats for use in the kitchen. My only real fear is that everyone would think me a mad scientist instead of just slightly mad. :biggrin:

I usually wear an apron but my whole collection of aprons has now reached the point where I cannot get them clean and they look even worse than my cooking-wrecked T-shirts.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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I have a very retro 60's ish (vintage) artist smock that has huge pockets and is covered with psychedelic mushrooms ...that is for company because my company loves it! and it has held up perfectly for all these years!!!

On a daily basis however and since I am also a messy cook and would not have any clothing at all if I did not do something! ... my husbands shirts work well :biggrin: summer cooking I dive into the Tshirts ...and during the winter I use his flannel shirts ... he is very tall and has a large build and I am pretty small woman so I get great coverage..have potholders and a bar towel all in one with these!

He on the other hand does not see the same multi purpose practicality I see in wearing his clothing to do my cooking/baking in..will (still after all these years!!!) walk by me...stop and stare at me in disbelief and mumble something like "gotta get a lock for my drawers!!!"

why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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I have a my melody apron, a hello kitty apron, and of course a green apron (must have one in my fav color) from crate & barrel.

The my melody apron came from ebay (hong kong) and looks very similar to this one: I'm also assuming that it's handmade

my melody apron

BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
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Generally, I only use an apron to impress. When we did a chili cook-off, I ordered some custom aprons for the team, mostly for a logo display, but they did work nicely, even if it did look a bit small on me.

I'm 6'2", 270 pounds. I have yet to see an apron at the big and tall store. I mostly wear one of my myriad tshirts that have been prestained with everything from engine grease to paint for cooking.

Not that I am against the things, but I can almost never find one that fits properly, or remember to put it on until something has spattered. I'm going to need to find a carpenter's style apron for another purpose. I work on laser printers. That toner is tenacious stuff. Anyone have a line on those in larger sizes? I'd buy more than one, and maybe keep one in the kitchen.

Screw it. It's a Butterball.
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I wear a man's denim shirt, when I remember. When I don't, I'm often sorry. I've tried to find something like it, or smock-like, in attractive washable fabric, for dinner parties. No luck. Perhaps someone at eGullet should make and sell them. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be interested.

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I've been buying them up at flea markets and "antique" fairs. They're usually found in "that one stall" with the old ladies sitting in their lawn chairs and floppy straw hats that has the bins of old fabric, sheets, napkins, tablecloths and pillowcases (all of which I'll snap up as well). Why pay $20-40 at Anthropologie for an apron when you can get them for $2 at the flea market in the same fun old prints? For the low price I'm not worried about staining them. I've got 6 so far.

Of course, I also buy old embroidered tea towels and dish rags in vintage prints for somethings like 50-75 cents and use them with reckless abandon too.

...wine can of their wits the wise beguile, make the sage frolic, and the serious smile. --Alexander Pope

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I've been seeing a lot of aprons at local area antique malls and also have been staining an awful lot of clothing while in the kitchen. I think I know what to look for when I go tomorrow---wasn't finding much lately to purchase anyway, maybe this'll be my new thing to look for!

Cheese - milk's leap toward immortality. Clifton Fadiman

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I live in Japan, so I have access to the best aprons in the world! Women seem to be apron happy here, so you can always find a great selection. I've been trying to convince myself that it's OK to spend Y10 000 ($80US) on an apron. It is from France, after all...

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Of course when you're looking for something, you can never find it! Not one apron was to be had, although I did find 2 cookbooks so the day was not a total loss.

Cheese - milk's leap toward immortality. Clifton Fadiman

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The apron ladies must have gone into hiding, because I too was not able to find a good one at the flea market on Saturday.

...wine can of their wits the wise beguile, make the sage frolic, and the serious smile. --Alexander Pope

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The apron ladies must have gone into hiding, because I too was not able to find a good one at the flea market on Saturday.

Give it some time and they'll be back. Anything that's "in" becomes scarce and the prices go up. If Country Home, Martha, and Country Living have an article on something it becomes a sellers market. The same thing happened with hankies.

p.s. Birder53, thanks for the denim shirt idea when frying. Three chickens were fried without an "OUCH!"

Edited by Susie Q (log)
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You can order extremely cheap white lab coats on line. If you're doing the come-home-and-start-cooking thing in the evenings, a lab coat is a better cover up for good clothes than an apron, and makes you look like Thomas Dolby. I hum "blinded me with culinary science" as I prep things.

If you have a coupon for it, you don't want it.

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  • 1 year later...

I am not the world's neatest cook. In particular, anything I wear when I am cooking is bound to get either tomato sauce, chocolate, or grease spatters on it. And yet, I still persist in not wearing an apron. Partially this is pure laziness, part of it is because I feel a bit silly in an apron, and part of it is because I have yet to actually destroy any of my clothing while cooking. If I'm going into a messy project I might wear jeans and an old T-shirt, etc. In fact, my wife theorizes that denim has killed the apron: jeans were practically designed for wiping your hands on and getting dirty. And with the convenience of an electric washing machine (as opposed to hand-scrubbing back in the good ol' days) and advanced detergents, aprons just don't strike me as that necessary for a home cook.

Chris Hennes
Director of Operations
chennes@egullet.org

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I live in Japan, so I have access to the best aprons in the world!  Women seem to be apron happy here, so you can always find a great selection.  I've been trying to convince myself that it's OK to spend Y10 000 ($80US) on an apron.  It is from France, after all...

I was enchanted by all the aprons I saw in the department stores in Tokyo, and one of my two aprons came from there. The other is a cute 1940s pink-flowered apron. I would love to have a whole wardrobe of aprons, but my kitchen is already crammed to capacity.

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while I have one, a freebie from La Cucina Italiana, I never wear it. Just one more thing to wash, I've never had a problem with a stain not washing out in the machine, no matter what it was. And if, I'd most likely not care. I do try and have a kitchen towel handy at all times though.

I might one day get one of those with a hot bikini girl body on it though, then wear it after not shaving for a couple days. And with shorts that are shorter than the apron. Hairy ape with hot body ;-p

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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