Another single-use (actually dual use — push and pull) kitchen implement for readers’ edification and amusement. Don’t you just hate it when you have cookies or cakes baking in the oven, and you try to pull the pands/racks out with a heavily protected oven mitt, and partially smush your cookies or cake with the unwieldy mitt? :) Not an earth-shattering problem, I agree, but whoever came up with the idea of an “oven rack push/pull” was pretty smart, in my opinion. I am particularly smitten with these hand-crafted, artisanal push/pulls done in beautiful bird’s eye maple…
I was at a food fair in New England a couple of years ago and spied a stall selling all manner of artisanal wood products from Vermont and New Hampshire, and these tongs were the goodies that I acquired at the stall, they were useful, unique and well, relatively affordable. Don’t ask me how much, as I can’t recall, but I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have paid more than $10-12 each for them. Notice how the artisan marked or signed each piece.
Almost too pretty to use, they are EXCELLENT at pulling oven racks and pushing them back in. But I have to admit, if I have a very heavy casserole in the oven, I don’t use the tools as I am afraid they might break. Besides, I just use heavy mitts to pull out the rack in that case as there is no risk of baked goods flattening syndrome. :)
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i use a couple of baker’s peels, but these are far cuter.
Fun post! (double-use indeed, hehe) I have such small hands so my elbow-length mitts can make things unwieldy. I can see how these can be better as ‘kawits’.
On a diff. note, I’ll be in CDO & Camiguin this weekend and will be combing your archives for ideas on what foodstuff to get there. :)
titabuds, unfortunately, I have never been to CDO or Camiguin… they are on my wish list though…
@titabuds: Try the tortas of Camiguin, of course don’t forget the pastels (different flavors now, but yema is still my favorite, barquillos and rosquillos. Humba will take you to the high blood heavens but really yummy and of course the fresh fish kinilaw done with tuba vinegar and “tabon-tabon”, the last is a treat when eating lunch on White Island of Camiguin with the majestic Hibo-Hibok volcano as a backdrop! Hope you enjoy Camiguin and oh yes, don’t forget to go white-water rafting in the CDO river. BTW, August 28 is fiesta day in CDO so expect bedlam but there will be lots of local food, flavors and beverages!MM, you should go and check out the place one of these days.
@Dodi, these are great tips, thank you so much. I’m making a checklist out of them. :) yes, it’s Kagay-an festival daw. MM, let’s go! :)
I have an oven rack push/pull too made of steel—durable yes–but not as folk artsy as these.Are the indentations in the wood natural? Is that why it’s called bird’s eye maple?
That’s funny- i was just at Sur la Table the other day and thought of getting a pair. Those are cute! MM, don’t miss SLT on your Seattle trip, I’m sure you’ll have fun checking out all their single use implements!
@titabuds, the hams: SLERS, PINE or ORO HAM, also the Wagyu meat at UMALAG outlet in the city
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wagyu-Beef-CDO/168408113188726?sk=info.
If you have time the Del Monte Golf Club House Restaurant at Manolo Fortich Bukidnon.
Oh MM, you have to visit CDO and Camiguin, then head to Bukidnon…
@Titabuds, ask any CDO-er where to get the best fried siopao… and Ihid’s right, find time to swing by Del Monte Golf Club House Resto – wonderful steaks at reasonable prices.. Ahhhh I miss home…
I don’t have this type of push pull gadget, pero namana ko sa Nanay ko itong mahogany wood “wide paddle” looking gadget na ginagamit ko panghila ng baked casserole sa oven. Parang style pizza gatherer – korteng maliit na sagwan. It is very helpful talaga, and since not so long handle lang siya, pagkatanggal ko sa oven, straight to the table, itong wood na ito ang ginagamit ko na ring protection of the hot pan bottom to my glass counter. I think my mom bought this from an indian reservation at Colorado.
My eyes are riveted by the grain of the table you laid your back scratchers on instead of the exotic bird’s eye maple that is the subject of the post. Did you use the same surface for the risotto finishing spoons but changed directions? This one looks very reflective, almost like foil, highly valued by connoisseurs of Ming furniture. The French describe this wood grain as chatoyant from their chat, our cat, as its eyes eerily reflect light in the dark.
Footloose, no they weren’t taken on the same tabletop… The risotto spoons were photographed on a narra table in bad lighting conditons. These bird’s eye maple pieces were photographed on our dining table, and the wood you see here is tindalo, a beautiful wood with a distinctive grain. The table is trimmed with kamagong… :)
Forget about the smashed cookies…I have permanent burns on the inside of my lower arm from reaching in and consistently grazing the edge of the rack. Friends know to ask what I’ve been baking whenever the telltale burns appear…usually around the holidays.
@ihid & @MP, thanks! The hams & fried siopao are now on my list, too. And yes, we’re making a sidetrip to Bukidnon. Steaks, you say? I’m there. :)
Nice! Forget what Alton Brown says about single-use gadgets; when they’re cool, they’re cool. :-)
I have one but re-purposed, the dry air here leaves me with an itch at my back that begs for some mouth-agape scratching. Of course it is always impossible to reach by hand so imagine my joy to discover a single-use implement for this in Chinatown… bamboo back scratchers! Well that was decades ago and I had gone through a couple of these, it seems that they always have a weak tine that breaks off after incessant use. Anyhow I alternately took off the remaining tines in one of these gadgets and voila, I have an oven rack push-pull gadget!
We went to CDO and Camiguin but didn’t have the same sense as titabuds to ask for advice from MM readers. Darn! You really do have to ask other die-hard food lovers where to go so you don’t miss out.
I want one of these!
Maybe this is late – I am from Camiguin and Dodi listed almost everything you can get from that tiny island.
He forgot to mention tableya and La Salud Turones.
I get the push part of the tool, but I can’t imagine how the pull part works. :( Hope you can also post pictures of the tools in action for readers like me who seem to lack imagination.
I just use disposable chopsticks to push and pull pans out of the oven and catch them with a mitt. My sister sent me left and right oven mitts, but I just use one hand with a mitt and the other with a dishcloth.
Another dual purpose kitchen gadget is a tea pot with cylinder strainer. Aside from infusing tea, I make calamansi juice in it. I mano-mano squeeze the calamansi into the cylinder strainer to make seedless calamansi juice.
ami, if you get the push part, the curved indentations in the wood further in are used to grab the rack and pull it out without touching it…