Every Chef We Spoke To Said You Should Ditch Your Oven Mitts
And you should make this upgrade instead.
Food & Wine / Madison Woiten
If you’ve ever stolen glances into the open kitchen of a restaurant (I know I have) you may have noticed chefs whipping around from pot to pan. While most kitchens are different, there is typically one thing in common: Most of the chefs I’ve seen are using towels instead of oven mitts.
When I talked to chefs to get the bottom of this, my suspicions were confirmed: They all agreed that dish towels are simply faster, more versatile, and in some cases, safer to use than traditional oven mitts. While oven mitts or grill gloves have their time and place, these chefs all concur the Lane Linen Kitchen Towels are a must for handling hot pots and pans with dexterity.
Lane Linen Kitchen Towels, Set of 12
Amazon
$14
Buy on Amazon
“Oven mitts just wear through relatively quickly at critical points, and then they’re unusable,” says Kelcey Rusch, co-chef at Spoke in Somerville, Massachusetts, who grew up in a household with oven mitts and potholders that were so worn down, “you were supposed to remember which ones had holes where,” in order to avoid getting burned. Even when oven mitts are new, Rusch feels they can be more dangerous than useful, as it’s “difficult to grab things securely, especially anything small.” Likening it to rock-climbing with hiking boots, Rusch adds that with padding so thick, they have “no dexterity, and are more likely to slip.”
Lane Linen towels on the other hand, can be folded over multiple times to provide ample protection from heat, and can still allow you a firm grip. They’re also super absorbent and durable thanks to the 100% cotton material, so when you’re not handling hot pots and pans, you can use them to clean your spills or cover rising bread. But Rusch adds one more use: They’re even great for “rubbing the bitter inner skin off of toasted nuts while containing the mess.”
For Jacob-Bao Nguyen, a private dining chef and owner of pop-up dinner series, Thần Thái, Lane Linen towels are an agile alternative to the more cumbersome oven mitts. Especially as a private chef who’s often cooking in different spaces, the dexterity of these towels is invaluable. “I can use them to handle hot pans, hot trays, and I can do it quickly without having to put on a glove and remove it every minute.”
If you still need convincing, oven mitts can also be less hygienic over time. The Lane Linen towels come in a 12-pack, so it’s easy to cycle through and toss them into the laundry once they’ve been dirtied. Unless you’re regularly washing your oven mitts, those that stay in use without a proper cleaning over months, or even years, harbor all the germs from your hands.
There are exceptions, of course. Molly Jacques, a chef at Wooden Bar in Worcester, Massachusetts, says that if you’re handling hot oil, “the scenarios can be so tricky that having your hands covered is key. Long mitts are still never a go-to, but a shorter sturdy cloth mitt would do.” Even then, Jacques still turns to their dish towels at home daily — “they’re the best!”
Ready to take your home cooking to a whole new level? Grab your 12-pack of Lane Linen towels for just $14. That’s about $1 apiece.
Shop More Dish Towels on Amazon:
Utopia Dish Towels, Set of 12
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Lane Linen Kitchen Towels and Dishcloths, Set of 12
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Zeppoli Classic Dish Towels, Set of 15
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Bumble Towels Premium Kitchen Towels, Set of 6
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Homaxy 100% Cotton Waffle Weave Kitchen Dish Cloths, Set of 6
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