Oven mitts/gloves (merged)

[melkor]

For things that are extremely hot I use a pair of Nomex gloves inside welders gloves, otherwise I just use the welders gloves. I agree with Dave the Cook on the welders gloves they are good for things like reaching into the smoker and moving hot coals around but they heat through too fast to hold anything really hot for any significant amount of time.

[Anna N]

I just scratched “new oven mitts” off my shopping list. Mine are scorched, grubby and just plain ugly and it seemed natural to buy a new pair. After all you MUST have a pair of oven mitts, right? Then I got to thinking……..why?

They are hard to store, they make me feel as if I am all thumbs, they usually let me down and I get a burn anyway because they are too short or too worn-out in places. There’s nowhere to conveniently ditch them when I am in a hurry so they often end up on a still-hot burner and get more scorch marks. The silicone ones strike me as even more dangerous as they don’t grab securely and if even a little wet can be downright scary.

Most of the time, I use a well-folded towel to deal with hot dishes and yet obviously a pair of oven mitts has always struck me as absolutely necessary gear.

It then occurred to me that I have never seen a TV chef use oven mitts. I am reduced to giggling when I imagine someone like Emeril or Michael Smith pulling on a pair of oven mitts.

So…… do you use oven mitts? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Kent Wang]

I have small four-inch square towel "pads" that are perfect for grabbing hot pans. Easier than folding a big towel.

[cakewalk]

Hmmm. Yours are probably scorched and grubby for a good reason -- you've been using them. Instead of scorched oven mitts, would you rather have scorched arms? I think that's probably the alternative.

If I take something out of the oven using regular pot-holders, I'm more likely to burn my arm (just above the wrist) on the rack that is above the rack I'm baking on. It's happened often enough that I always reach for the oven mitt, not the pot holder, for things in the oven. I have them both hanging on the side of the refrigerator, so one is just as easily accessibe as the next. I find that using a folded towel is a pain in the butt, quite often not thick enough -- and they don't protect my arms!

(I don't think TV chefs use hot ovens, either. The stuff is usually already prepared for the show. They pull it out of the oven, but it's been sitting in a cold oven for quite a while.)

So anyway, that's why you must have a pair of oven mitts.

[Hest88]

I don't like mitts, but I like potholders. Towels usually don't insulate as well as I need them to, and it takes too long to put on mitts.

[cakewench]

Absolutely, I use oven mitts. I've been a believer in them since I used a towel or something in someone else's kitchen, and burned my thumb badly when the weight on the tray shifted and my hand went crashing into the broiler coil.

My mother-in-law also thought they looked a bit silly, and had avoided them because her own mother used them, but now has started using a pair since seeing me with them. Yes, they aren't as easy to store as a towel, but imo, are a far better option.

[flacoman]

Welder's gloves are the tool of choice for me. Grippy, tough and last about forever. It's very handy when you can grab a pizza stone and put it on the stovetop to load and unload a crust.

my2c

Jorg

[MissAmy]

I just use foled-up towels. I can never find the oven mits when I need them, towels are just easier to grab. When I DO manage to find the mits, I find they don't insulate against the heat as well as a nicely folded side towel.

[srhcb]

I have an Ove Glove and I'm thinking about getting another to have a pair.

SB

[bavila]

I usually use pot holders, but they and the oven mitts hang on a hook that's attached to my fridge for ease of storage.

[cajungirl]

I have an Ove Glove and I'm thinking about getting another to have a pair.

SB 

←

I have a pair and I think they're great!

I use a folded kitchen towel for pot handles and lids.

The welders' gloves sound like a really really good idea though!

[SuzySushi]

I absolutely use potholders. I have a couple of silicone ones that double as trivits, but the one I use the most often is a thick Ritz square terrycloth potholder that slips over my hand. When it gets too grubby to wash, I replace it.

For removing casseroles and heavy pans from the oven, I also have a thick quilted two-handed oven mitt that wraps around the pan and has saved me from countless burns. I threw out the old one after it got singed around the edges. Better it than me.

Edited October 18, 2006 by SuzySushi (log)

[Kouign Aman]

Pot holders or folded towels for cake pans, roasting pans etc,

but the ovenmitt for things cooked in the oven in the skillet etc.

Or if I need to hold something for a time (with tongs or whatever) whilst basting, adding something, or whatnot.

I like to have one set of really good ones, and I use them rarely but I am so happy to have them on those occasions.

[shellfishfiend]

I have exactly one oven mitt and I think I have used it about one time. I always use pot holders and I have a variety of sizes. I don't feel like I can get a firm grip on things with the mitt. I try to avoid using towels because if they are even slightly damp, you will get a bad burn.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I'm a fan of the silicone hot mit and the silicone pot holder.

[scubadoo97]

While a folded kitchen towel does work fine. An oven mit will give you more coverage and protect your arm from burns. Ove gloves are great and give you the dexterity that you don't get with mits. Don't ever grab a hot pan with a wet kitchen towel. Ouch!!!!

[johnsmith45678]

I use pot holders at home and just folded-up towels when I worked in restaurants. Oven mitts just become so completely nasty in no time (in restaurants), plus they just aren't conducive to a chef's macho image.

Edited October 18, 2006 by johnsmith45678 (log)

[Marlene]

I use oven mitts all the time and they hang on a hiik right near the stove. I also have one of those ove gloves and they are fabulous. Especially when you're trying to unwrap something hot in tin foil.

I had a silicone mitt and I gave it up pretty quickly. They are cumbersome, don't grip really well, and as Anna says, get one wet, and it's all over.

[CanadianBakin']

No oven mitts for me. I burned myself too many times when I was younger between my thumb and index finger while wearing oven mitts to ever want to try them again. I always use a folded up dish towel.

[Allura]

DH uses the oven mitts, but I use pot holders. OTOH, the pot holders I have have a little slot in them to slide your hand in. It gets me the grip of pot holders without burning my hand on the edge of the oven (tiny apartment oven here). I have nails under all my cabinets for tools and such, so I can always find my pot holders/mitts. They're what counts as decoration in my kitchen.

[mizducky]

I have had both good and bad experiences with both oven mitts and potholders. Relatively few of either, in my experience, are thick enough to provide good heat insulation. Right now I have a couple of good ones and a couple of crappy ones each (actually, the crappy ones are my roommate's). I prefer the mitts for handling bigger awkward things like casseroles that are harder to get a good handhold on with potholder; what I lose in hand dexterity due to the clumsy mitten shape I more than make up for in fuller hand protection. And I also try real hard to be focused, not distracted, whenever shuffling things in and out of the oven, regardless of what protection I'm using.

(sez she who as a child made a bazillion of those jersey-loop woven potholders, which sat unused in a spare drawer in the kitchen because my mother knew they were worse than useless but hadn't the heart to tell me. )

[helenjp]

Folded towel thing - nope. Shift too easily, damp, etc., you knew it already.

Pot holder. Would use them if I could find any that are more than decorative (I don't really live in Pot Holder Land).

Oven mitts. Yes, I use them, and have a pair which cost considerable, but which deal with more heat than anything else I've used. They have magnets in a tape at the end, so I can just slap them on the side of my oven.

Although they don't degenerate after a couple of washes, and they still work when wet, after 10 years they definitely need replacing, if I could find anything as good.

I have large hands, so I want longish, gauntlet-style gloves that are wide at the wrist and smoothly lined so I can pull them on and off quickly.

[andiesenji]

Bakers use mitts, pads, gloves.

I use Coolskins because I have found they are much better than Ove gloves.

Coolskins NOMEX is the same stuff used in firefighter's gear.

They are sold by the pair and I order them from the UK and they are shipped rapidly.

They come in different lengths and I have the long ones for reaching deep into my Blodgett oven which takes a full-size sheet pan lengthways. Before getting these I had many burns on the backs of my wrists and my forearms when picking up a wide pan.

I have large hands and get a size larger for the ones I use where there will be steam or hot water as I use rubble gloves under the Coolskins.

I think they are worth every penny of the cost. They last a long time. I still have the first pair I bought 5 years ago. I will post a pic later.

Edited October 18, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[johnsmith45678]

Real chefs use their bare hands!

[andiesenji]

Real bakers don't.

These are the Coolskins, short and medium length.

The shorter ones are more than 5 years old, the others are more than 3 years old.

palm side of the longer ones.

Edited October 19, 2006 by andiesenji (log)