Oven mitts versus towels

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I was going to ask you if you'd change your stance since your first post... well, you answered my question without asking, psychic!
 
I was going to ask you if you'd change your stance since your first post... well, you answered my question without asking, psychic!
I don't change stances often. Once I've found something that works I stick with it. It's familiar and its use is ingrained.
 
I don't change stances often. Once I've found something that works I stick with it. It's familiar and its use is ingrained.
Thats how I am with the cloth pot holders. I've been using them for decades. My wife is always yelling at me that Im going to burn myself with them because they're too small, but the only time I burn myself is when she goes out and gets oven mitts for a fancier version of what I already have.
 
This thread made interesting reading. I have only ever used oven mitts, and as I haven't had an oven for many years now, the only thing I need them for now is lifting the crockpot out of the slow cooker.
 
I see on cooking shows that they use folded towels instead of oven mitts, and Lord knows I go through oven mitts like wildfire, so what's a girl to do ?
Use the folded towels. Better, pot holders. I've tried oven mitts an concluded they're just something for William Sonoma to sell $20 versions of (or their top-end Dutchdeluxes model, $110).

 
I use pot holders mostly.

The towel is kind of a pro technique.

ually will have a towel tucked into the waistband of their apron tie. This is called a side towel.

It's handy for clean up, for wiping your hands for grabbing something hot... On that video where Pepin deboned a chicken you can see him use it to hold on to the end of the tendon for scraping it out of the tenderloin of the chicken.

You need to be cognizant of what you've done with it for food safety reasons and change it out of course.

.

 
I use potholders exclusively, since I find oven mitts to be uncomfortable and am not happy with having to remove them rather than just hanging or laying down a potholder.
My kitchen towels aren't for lifting or moving hot objects. They barely keep my hands clean and dry and I don't want to stress them!
 
I do not like using towels, but use both mitts and smaller pot holders, for different things. The mitts - ones I've gotten at restaurant supply stores, so I never had problems with them (though I remember a number of thin mitts, when I was young!) - I use mainly for bread pans, Dutch ovens, and larger pans, from the ovens. I use the smaller pot holders for things like taking the top off a Dutch oven, or pouring the water from my kettle, and other smaller things. I have 2 more unused mitts in my basement, for when these wear out (which takes a long time), but I would probably get those silicone mitts, if I had to replace mine. I wouldn't order them online, however, as they might be too small! I had this happen when I got one online - actually a good one, with some strips of silicone, for the grip, and heat did not go through. Gave it to a friend, with a smaller hand.

I also have those silicone pot grabbers I use for the Instant Pot. Can be used for some other things, but mainly I use them for just that, and just keep them behind the IP. Definitely a good thing to have for this.
Silicone Instant Pot grabbers by pepperhead212, on Flickr
 
I am actually the Original Poster here but couldn;t figure out how to access that account so I made a new one.

I still use oven mitts. I got a great pair from China made completely from silicon since my material ones would mold so. Not just covering the hands, all the way up the arms!!!
 
I use thick cotton oven mitts. They have a bead of silicone on the cotton making a woven design (criss-cross) on the oven mitts so they don't slip. I really like them and have used them for years. I especially like them for tightening tattler lids after they come out of the canner or pressure canner
 
I have mostly terry cloth towels,
Speaking of towels. How many here have two types of kitchen towels? One for the dishes only and one for hands only.
I use a lot of terry cloth towels, for drying things with, but I have a few plain muslin towels, sometimes used for rolling out things on, or maybe put the towels on, like bread. These are not for lifting hot items! I also have some muslin towels a friend in MO embossed for me - a few as jokes, and one for each day of the week, with the Spanish day of the week, plus chiles, and other designs. I don't use them too often, usually when friends are over, especially for Mexican. Here's one of the funny ones, plus Wednesday and Friday.
The first embossed towel my friend in MO sent me. Got some laughs out of all my friends who have seen it. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

One of the embossed towels my friend sent me, 7 with days of the week on them in Spanish, plus chile peppers. This one for Wednesday. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Viernes (Friday), plus chiles, on the towel. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
 
@Phaedra Do you have different colors of towels for this, like they have different colors of chopping boards?
Yes, different colours for meat, dairy, and parve. I only have a single sink [no dishwasher] so I have different coloured bowls and drainers - keep under the sink and take out whichever is needed. It might sound fiddly and time-consuming but when you've been doing it for decades it's automatic.

You don't need loads of everything and I ended up never using most of of what I had [there's only me and a small dog now] so donated what I didn't need and only kept the minimum for our needs.
 
When I am using the toaster oven, I pull the rack forward and then there is enough space to use oven mitts. Some days, I am likely to burn myself on the hot sides of an oven or on oven racks. :ermm: On those days, I want the mitts.
 
As to towels in the kitchen, terry cloth for hands, cotton, non-terry, tea towels for dishes. Yellow, cotton tea towels for drying fruit or veg that I washed and want to use before it dries on it's own.
 
We usually have at least 2 towels out on the counter at any given Time ( sometimes 3 or 4). Im a self proclaimed slob ( and my wife agrees), so we're constantly cleaning things off the counter, floor, hands , walls .... We try to keep the floor separate from the other ones but it doesnt always work out that way. Depends on how much of a mess I made and where I made it.
 
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