Hello my Foodie Friends!
Many of us are spending more time in the kitchen practicing or creating our favorite recipes. There is a tool that is very essential in the kitchen especially when using the oven – the oven mitt and gloves. Baking activities can prove to be quite strenuous and you will often find that you need to engage in the use of baking mittens or gloves in order to make your favorite cake or your favorite pizza. There are a number of reasons why wearing such gloves is so essential.
The most important is to keep your hands protected from the heat of the oven.
The baking gloves are those that protect you from the heat of the oven. Unless you wear these gloves at the time of taking out and inserting baking trays, you are more than likely to scorch your hands, which can prove to be most unpleasant. Oven mitts and gloves give your hands the grip needed for holding baking trays and other pans that you are using to cook with. The baking gloves give you a firm grip which would not have been the case had you been holding the item with your bare hands. You need to be holding backing trays and various pans in a certain way so as to be able to get these in and out of the oven in a certain manner. Thus, if you keep these points in mind, you will understand the vitality of wearing oven gloves when engaging in activities of any sort for both the oven and the stove top. Keeping our hands safe while cooking is important; no one likes to get burned.
In conducting a bit of research, we believe the history of the oven mitt may have begun like this: “The oven mitt was invented in 1884 by a man named Francis Mitts. He owned a small bakery in Jersey City, where every day seamen and dockers would drop in to get their fill of Frank’s freshly made breads and coffee. Frank’s daughters were helping out in the kitchen and were working in direct contact with the ovens. In order to keep his young daughters’ hands from getting singed, he designed heavily insulated mittens, which evolved over time into what we know today as the oven mitts.”
Actually, mittens have been in use for over 1,000 years for a wide range of purposes – including those of protecting your hands from hot ovens. Today, however, technological advancement has allowed an incredible amount of heat resistance to be built into each mitt. We use oven mitts for many different occasions whether it be based around a special occasion, or when you are in the mood for cooking up something amazing like a birthday cake, or for a poolside BBQ, friends gathering or simply an evening with your family(my brothers and sisters and I used to use them for indoor baseball with a beach ball when it rained). For all of these moments, the oven mitt is there to help you get the job done taking care of the heat while you are busy preparing your incredible creation. The traditional oven mitt has outer layers that are typically made of cotton, while the inner layer is filled with an insulator-type material. However, over time it starts to fall apart, lose its shape, become singed and stained from all the wear. So why not get a brand new mitt or two to help your creative juices flow next time you are ready to cook up a storm?
At Compliments to Chef, we offer a really cool cooking glove by Kitchen Grips Inc. This innovative line of kitchen gloves and hand safety products are made of a unique material called FLXaPrene™. This material is not only heat and stain-resistant but is also very flexible and comfortable to use. This patented product is available in different styles and colors not only for the home but also for commercial use. This is also the material used in scuba diving suits. Kitchen Grips® has created a safer oven mitt with increased insulation and grip that is comfortable on the hands and offers a cook more control with a non-slip grip and greater flexibility. The mitts feature a uniquely designed, raised nub pattern that adds insulation, protecting the hands from hot & cold temperatures (500 degrees F/260 degrees C to -134 degrees F/ -92 degrees C). The FLXaPrene material makes the mitt both water repellent and stain resistant so they will stay looking good and perform well for many years. The oven mitts are machine washable or can be washed with hot water and mild detergent and air-dried or can even be washed on the top shelf of the dishwasher.
Sure, oven mitts can come in many fun and unique shapes. Long gone are the days when the top priority was matching the kitchen towels; the best mitts available today combine stay-cool comfort, fantastic dexterity, and a no-nonsense grip and made of the high-performance materials The most important thing when selecting the best oven mitt for you is to protect your hands from the heat when moving product from the oven to the table. Be sure to select the oven mitt that fits your hands and protects you. Stop by Compliments to the Chef, your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store and put up your mitts and don’t get burned! Remember Foodie Friends; “Life Happens in the Kitchen.”
Take Care,
John & Paula
