The Alton Brown Tip to Make Your Tongs Even More Useful

Lisa Freedman
Lisa FreedmanExecutive Lifestyle Director
Lisa Freedman is the Executive Lifestyle Director at The Kitchn. She has never met a cheese or a washi tape she didn't like. She lives in New York state with her husband and their pup, Millie.
updated Dec 4, 2019
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Credit: Joe Lingeman

I’ve watched Alton Brown hack stainless steel steamer baskets into a three-tiered steamer basket (to cook more food at once!), add salt to his coffee grounds, argue that pasta should be cooked in cold water, organize a refrigerator door with an empty egg carton, and more. So, yeah, it’s no secret that he’s got tons of great ideas to revolutionize how we cook and work in the kitchen.

My point: It shouldn’t surprise me when I learn something new and amazing from him. And yet, every time I stumble upon a new tip from him, I either have to pick my jaw up from off the floor (because it’s so brilliant) or I can’t help but give myself a dramatic face-palm (because I probably should have thought of the same thing). Right now, I’m talking about his tong hack — and this was definitely a face-palm kind of moment.

See, I recently saw this video on Facebook where he talks about a woman who had emailed him because she was doing some bain-marie baking (when you fill a larger baking dish with water and add ramekins to make mini cheesecakes or crème brûlée). She used tongs to remove the ramekins and one of the dishes slipped out, dropped to the floor, and the splashed contents gave her some pretty bad burns.

Alton’s tip for preventing that? For starters, he suggests wearing shoes in the kitchen. Then he also says to look to the produce aisle.

Credit: Joe Lingeman

“So here’s the deal: You know those rubber bands that they give you at the grocery store around things like broccoli and asparagus? Well, just put a few of those around each end of your spring-loaded tongs and you’ll notice that it makes a very nice snug and secure device for lifting things.”

Credit: Joe Lingeman

“That will hopefully keep bad things from happening during your hot-water baking,” he adds.

Brilliant! These rubber bands are food-grade (they’re literally made to hold food together) and I love learning of new uses for things that would otherwise probably be headed for the trash. Bonus: Alton also likes rubber-band-wrapped tongs to help get jars out if you’re canning.

Do you have any other great uses for those rubber bands that come with your broccoli or asparagus?