Tweezers in the Kitchen

[David Ross]

Recently I bought a nice side of Copper River Salmon. I didn't realize until I got home that the fish wasn't fully cleaned-it still had a number of bones running through the middle of the filet. I hadn't used them in years, but I remembered I had bought two tweezers specifically for the job of pulling small bones out of fish, (I just had to find them in the kitchen tool drawer).

But it got me to thinking about all the other uses for these small tweezers that are designed to be used in the bathroom, not the kitchen. When I was in Las Vegas attending Vegas Uncork'd 2011 here, I saw first-hand how Professional Chefs used tweezers to delicately garnish dishes with herbs and fresh flowers. When I dined at the private table at e' by Jose Andres, any number of small personal grooming tools were employed by the Chefs as they presented us with "Modernist" dishes-tweezers, eye droppers, small scissors and clippers.

Do you use tweezers in the kitchen? Are there other little tools found in the cosmetics and drug department at the supermarket that I should include in my kitchen tool drawer?

[Deus Mortus]

I am always a big fan of cotton swabs for any delicate cleaning in hard to reach places, injection needles also have their use in filling things with sauces (make sure you get one with a wide needle so thicker fluids can pass) and of course the aforementioned tweezers, I like to use them to clean up any accidental eggshells in eggs.

Oh and also burn creams, I have made my skin mostly fireproof by years of being a dumbass around all sorts of fire and heat, but I always seem to find a way to burn the few spots that are still vulnerable...

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I love toenail clippers for slivering almonds, when I need only a few slivers to finish the plate, and the little nail scissors that come in personal grooming kits are ideal for cutting herbs extremely finely. Injection needles, of course, are wonderful things for filling with sauces, and with their needles removed (ie just the syringe part) are excellent for precision icing and decoration of cakes. And of course the aforementioned tweezers, which are useful in garnishing, placement of small items, and eggshell removal.

I'll second Deus Mortus on the burn creams as well. There will always be that moment of distraction where you just grab the pan handle, no matter that it's been on the fire for god-knows-how-long....

[Deus Mortus]

Oh using the needle for icing is a good idea! I'll have to use that!

Also gauze bandages are great for tying down roulades (especially delicate fish roulades) and such, though make sure you get the ones without the anti-biotics and sterilizers and that you use them in low heat, if you want to finish in high heat, just unwrap, it should hold like that, seeing how it has already firmed up in the low heat.

Edited June 11, 2011 by Deus Mortus (log)

[Jmahl]

Stainless steel shears from the hardware department. Cheap and sharp for cutting up chicken.

[Deus Mortus]

Stainless steel shears from the hardware department. Cheap and sharp for cutting up chicken.

Not a big fan of those, I prefer to buy the ones you can take apart, there is no way to clean the hinge between the blades in normal shears.

[David Ross]

Oh using the needle for icing is a good idea! I'll have to use that!

Also gauze bandages are great for tying down roulades (especially delicate fish roulades) and such, though make sure you get the ones without the anti-biotics and sterilizers and that you use them in low heat, if you want to finish in high heat, just unwrap, it should hold like that, seeing how it has already firmed up in the low heat.

That's a great idea-and one I'm going to try. I have fair success rolling things up with plastic wrap, so I can see a number of applications where gauze would work when rolling up meat or seafood. Thanks for the tip!

[Deus Mortus]

Oh using the needle for icing is a good idea! I'll have to use that!

Also gauze bandages are great for tying down roulades (especially delicate fish roulades) and such, though make sure you get the ones without the anti-biotics and sterilizers and that you use them in low heat, if you want to finish in high heat, just unwrap, it should hold like that, seeing how it has already firmed up in the low heat.

That's a great idea-and one I'm going to try. I have fair success rolling things up with plastic wrap, so I can see a number of applications where gauze would work when rolling up meat or seafood. Thanks for the tip!

Sure and you can wash and reuse them!

Oh and toothpicks are great for scratching away anything burned between the bars of a grill.

Edited June 11, 2011 by Deus Mortus (log)

[Lindacakes]

Decorating cookies. How else do you get a jimmie exactly where you want it?

[liuzhou]

I have a couple of cheap toothbrushes in my tool drawer. Ideal for cleaning my box grater and other hard to access places.

[andiesenji]

I've used a curling iron to "toast" and shape herb leaves - such as sage - into curls or spirals. (It was never used for anything else.)

The barrel is tapered from a half inch to one inch so I can get different sized curls.

[judiu]

My thumbs don't work so well anymore , so tweezers are not the easiest thing to use , for me. I like a small pair of spring loaded needle-nosed pliers, which I purchased to use in a jewelery making attempt. Just washed well, and VIOLA ! ( ) Great little bone grabbers, sprinkle placers, garnish spotters, etc. Don't have the tendency to cut soft stuff the way tweezers might, either. HTH!

[dcarch]

Blades for surgical scalpel are cheap.

I use a scalpel to score tough skins like pork rind. Works great.

Pliers works better than tweezers for pulling fish bones, and to hold on to a slipery fish tail to scale a fresh fish.

dcarch

[Mjx]

I keep an extra box of flat, wooden interdental cleaners in the kitchen for testing cake done-ness, scraping crud out of small narrow crevices in equipment, and sketching out patterns or text on cake icing. Also, not exactly from the cosmetics department/pharmacy, but I inevitably use scalpels when I'm prepping meat in a way that is fairly close to a standard dissection (e.g. leg of lamb).

[judiu]

I keep an extra box of flat, wooden interdental cleaners in the kitchen for testing cake done-ness, scraping crud out of small narrow crevices in equipment, and sketching out patterns or text on cake icing. Also, not exactly from the cosmetics department/pharmacy, but I inevitably use scalpels when I'm prepping meat in a way that is fairly close to a standard dissection (e.g. leg of lamb).

Ya mean toothpicks?

[dcarch]

I keep an extra box of flat, wooden interdental cleaners in the kitchen for testing cake done-ness, scraping crud out of small narrow crevices in equipment, and sketching out patterns or text on cake icing. Also, not exactly from the cosmetics department/pharmacy, but I inevitably use scalpels when I'm prepping meat in a way that is fairly close to a standard dissection (e.g. leg of lamb).

Ya mean toothpicks?

Are you trying to gross me out!

I have bamboo ones. They last longer and you can reuse them (Not for interdental applications).

dcarch

[Mjx]

I keep an extra box of flat, wooden interdental cleaners in the kitchen for testing cake done-ness, scraping crud out of small narrow crevices in equipment, and sketching out patterns or text on cake icing. Also, not exactly from the cosmetics department/pharmacy, but I inevitably use scalpels when I'm prepping meat in a way that is fairly close to a standard dissection (e.g. leg of lamb).

Ya mean toothpicks?

Sort of, but not exactly: I think of 'toothpicks' as having a round cross-section and a very tapered point that snaps off easily. The ones I use are flat, more robust (a single one will usually last me an entire kitchen cleaning), and come in flats that you snap the individual pieces from. You could call them toothpicks, but they're much more useful than the ones I've seen in restaurants.

[DickL]

Yes, I use tweezers in the kitchen. I've got an ancient tweezers (4.5 inches, nicely chromed) that I think was part of the required kit for a high school biology lab class (or maybe a college course). But HS and college were over 50 years ago for me, so any yuck factor is only in the mind of some terribly squeamish person.

It gets used for removing fish bones, and also when I'm sorting things like beans ("Acme beans are a natural product and so should be sorted before use to remove any accidental foreign material", or whatever they say). The tweezers work much better than my admittedly fairly large fingers.

[Paul Bacino]

I use Dental College tweezers around my house for adding fine touches to dishes.

They look like these.. but mine are non locking. We have a large amount of these in my dental office

http://www.amazon.com/College-Dental-Tweezer-W-Lock/dp/B0046HLLGU

[liuzhou]

I use culinary tweezers.

[OliverB]

I also use needle nose pliers for pin bones, have a small one that's spring loaded, works very well. I have tweezers but don't think I ever used them, but they seemed like a great idea when I got them, LOL.

I just don't plate things with a tiny leaf here and a mini sprig there, once dinner is ready I have hungry scavengers (aka as "kids") sitting there with open mouths, no time to get too fancy

[Peter the eater]

I love toenail clippers for slivering almonds . . .

May I ask if you keep a dedicated pair in the kitchen?

[judiu]

I have been known to use a new, disposable double bladed razor to slice thin, thin, thin garlic slices.

[TheTInCook]

I picked up a pedo egg thingy at the dollar store for my gargoyle feet, and it would almost make a decent microplane. I'm thinking of getting one to use as a nutmeg grater because it's got a little cubby area that I can put nutmegs.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I love toenail clippers for slivering almonds . . .

May I ask if you keep a dedicated pair in the kitchen?

I have a dedicated "personal grooming" kit in a little stainless-steel case that lives in the kitchen and is only used for kitchen tasks.

Ugh - I'd never use something on almonds that also saw use on my toes....