Cooking chopsticks can pretty much do everything tweezers can without looking like a snob, and they don't scratch nonstick pans. And there really isn't anything too large or small to flip with chopsticks. I have flipped an entire rack of ribs with chopsticks on a grill. The downside is that you have to build up dexterity to do that. If you don't have that yet, you can just use the 'rubberband trick' to turn them into tweezers.
I have a slew of chopsticks that I use in the kitchen. These aren't the same although I do agree that between them there is a lot of cross-over. Chopsticks are straight and leverage to a point. These curve inward and have a longer parallel section and that is a big difference when picking up 20 strands of pasta vs 1.
As a tourist guide in Vietnam, a chopstick using country, i’ve had countless tourists ask me why we use chopsticks instead of spatulas, forks, tongs and whatnot. Well…. our chopsticks might not be the best tool for many jobs but they are good for a lot of things.
What silly about the question is that they asked it because they saw people doing things that they would do with spatulas, for, and tongs. And since they see people doing those things, they had the answer before they asked the question.
I watched a video on TH-cam explaining the origin of chopsticks. It’s mostly due to economical reasons, back then metal is very rare and expensive while wood and bamboo are abundant. Chopping food in smaller pieces cooks faster and saves fuel, and you don’t need a knife on a dinning table. I eat potato chips with chopsticks, keep my hands clean.
I've had a pair of these for ages, but I originally used them when qualifying autoclaves (to get the bio indicators from the far recesses without searing myself). Now I mostly use them to rescue fallen objects from behind furniture. Perhaps I'll get a new pair specifically for the kitchen...
Such tweezers were amongst my first kitchen utensils. I studied chemistry and had to get all the personal lab equipment. The unused surplus, including the tweezers and several borosilicate beakers ended up in my kitchen and I still use them 25 years later.
You can use those tweezers for glassblowing too! I usually use a non-serrated version to avoid marking the glass, but for handling hot (but solid) glass the serrated ones are useful too.
Everyone’s taking about chopsticks, but after watching an about to eat video about kitchen tools I bought a set of yakitori tongs. They’re essentially tweezers, except more ergonomic and shaped in a way that when you set them down, the tips don’t touch the countertop. Highly recommended, and very cheap. (Also called yakiniku or Korean bbq tongs)
@@feedbackzaloop Good shout! Though mainly Korean ones come up when I search that. Mine are specifically Japanese yakiniku tongs, so those are the only ones I can comment on for quality.
Bamboo (perhaps wooden) tweezers seem to be the sweet spot here. Far too many billions of people have little or no experience with the manifold advantages of chopsticks. Alex just demonstrated some of the advantages of kitchen tweezers, and he implied no judgement over other utensils, other than tweezers were preferable to him in some applications. It seems many people are (quite hilariously) taking this simple fact personally. Alex shared his discovery with us. This knowledge has led both him and me to improve our skills as cooks. We all strive to be better. Bottom line: I believe this is one of Alex's best videos, if only because he explains and demonstrates what he has learned as he endeavors to improve his cooking skills.
Yeah there's this weird knee-jerk reaction from asia fanboys (& fangirls?) like both things are as equally good and thats OK. LIke guys tone down the angst please lol.
To improve the kitchen hygiene aspect, I like having two pairs of tweezers in different colors. That way you can dedicate one to handling raw ingredients and one for cooked. This color-coded system is especially useful when grilling on my konro.
Love that you are using them! I have been using wooden chopsticks in my cooking for a long time now. They're great! They're flipping tools and stirring tools for both delicate and heavy duty stuff.
I've had a pair for 2 years. I follow your videos and 5 chefs out of Italy. They all use them. I love mine and is my #1 kitchen tool. I also got a stainless steel pan that is almost like a wok 1 chef uses. The 2 together are indispensable. Thank you Alex!
Fascinating how similar our thoughts on this are. I would almost say I'm snobby about not being too snobby. Functionality and practicality, is what I try to focus on. And now you went and inspired me to consider buying yet another kitchen tool. I'll comfort myself with the thought that it isn't the tool that makes the snob. It's about what's done with the tool.
I've used kitchen tweezers for years and I am a lowly bachelor meat and potatoes cook. I keep them by the stove right next to the chopsticks. Glad to have my little quirk validaded by the admirably competent. There is no snobbery at all in using a simple tool providing precision and selectivity in food manupulation.
the german brand rösle makes fantastic tongs/tweezers even with silicon tips. i got mine 2 months ago and im using them pretty much all the time. maybe i get metal tweezers too, because they are worse at gripping really soft delicate stuff like the egg in the video but they are so handy
For those of us who’ve grown up with chopsticks and have good dexterity with them, tweezers are like a restrictive version of the tool we always use. I can’t see myself using a pair of tweezers but they’re certainly much easier to use for people who haven’t been using chopsticks all their lives!
The benefit is picking up the tool itself in my opinion. If you’re cooking something that doesn’t require much attention like bacon, it’s nice to just be able to grab the tool quickly and use it quickly without positioning it
With larger tool, I think I prefer tweezers being prepositioned, over control. It takes more effort and focus with larger chopsticks and I find it not worth it. They also are better for mixing using "fist grab" - they are like fork then, and easier one to maintain in hold.
@@costillero2189 yes I have a pair that were given to me. I sometimes use them when barbecuing but haven’t really found them replacing chopsticks in the kitchen.
Thats also the beauty of them, they're always ready to go faster because you just gravitate to the join, they can be tossed into a washer basket without falling through and stopping the wash. but unless your doing some werid stuff they're as agile as chop sticks and I can hold in any orientation or fingers. Bandage your dominant fingers for example or burn them or what have you, I can hang tweezers on a pocket or in
Alex, there is such a thing like the right tool for the job. These are obviously useful. No snobbery in my eyes and only things that help making your life easier.
yeah i prefer to use wood because i don't even fully trust plastic to not harden to the point of potentially dmaging the teflon over a long time of prolonged heat using them but yeah, if you don't use them all the time, what's the harm really, the teflon itself could also be a problem to begin with if that's a concern :D
You can use Silicone Caps to not ruin your Non-Stick Pans (unless you cook at a higher temp then 226ish Celcius/440 Fahrenheit) if you use Metal Tweezers. But Wooden Tweezers just work as well (can even use a rubberband to transform your chopsticks to makeshift tweezers hehe).
The reason these are delightful is- there is very little between big, sturdy, clumsy kitchen tongs… and bare hands for delicate movements. Tongs allow for precise adjustments in high heat. Precise movements that can be very tough for a sturdy pair of tongs that were likely created for moving or flipping large steaks. But of you need to fold over a small end of skirt steak, so it gets seared perfectly for presentation- a precise set of tweezers may be for you. Of flipping sliced mushrooms in a pan.
they're just basically small tongs, that also add a functionality of puncturing because of their small size, so yeah obviously they are nice to have around
Might sound hipstery, but I've had tweezers from my days as a biology student and I've used them for cooking for a long time. They are not as long, but they are really practical. Didn't know they were high end kitchen tools until I saw them in a couple of videos. Made me think I had the right mind hehe
Same. I bought another pair because no matter how well they've been cleaned, I still remember where and when I've used them. If you need longer tweezers and don't want to pay for the medical/surgical grade, Korean and Japanese restaurants use extra long ones for grilling and they are not that expensive. Also the finger pads are shaped so the tongs stay off the table when you set them down. They are great when the food you are cooking is too delicate for tongs.
This made me happy! I’ve been telling anyone who will listen how amazing those are to have in the kitchen. I even keep a pair in my knife roll for when I travel.
Been using tongs for years in my kitchen, simple fully metal ones that are pretty narrow, close to these kitchen tweezers in the video. So much better and more useful than almost anything else. I've even brought them with me a few times when I've cooked at friend's homes. It's been weirdly hard to convince people about how great of a tool they are. Really happy to see this video, it'll surely help bring this tool to more kitchens around the world 😄
I've had these tweezers for a few years now, and they're my favourite kitchen tool. Good for pretty much everything, as long as it's not too heavy. Combined with silicon coated tongs, I have everything I need.
I'm a physicist, and I use a bit of lab equipment in my kitchen, without pretense. They're just simple, well designed tools. Long tweezers are probably the my desert-island kitchen tool from the lab.
I've been using my kitchen tweezers for about 15 years now; mine are 18 in" though, I use them a lot when flipping things on the BBQ too. Also once I got a dropped bolt out of the space between the radiator and the grille of my car. They also make a really good gift; have a few on hand and then you can give them to folks at house-warmings and such.
It always amazes me how easy and often they pretty much skip when the chef is plating in pasta videos with these tweezers, that's a huge part of how to make the dish look amazing!!
When you assess something as useful not because of its rep, or despite its rep, but because of actual usefulness.....that is a true chef attitude. Go forth unafraid of ignorant opinions of the uninformed....you are on a true path.
I bought a kitchen set a few years back and got one of these made of hard plastic, maybe a little bigger than these in the video, or even the same size. I love them, they have a use all the time
XD I love that you are using your Tweezers. The big tweezers that you are using are fantastic! being a chef (lol in Denmark) I have been using them for almost 20 years now - they are not hipster gear -but very functional work tools. Every home should own a par, as they can be used in a bunch of ways other than just in the hot kitchen - ex. i have often used they to make roses out of smoked salmon - fast - very good when your making many. Just grab your slice of smoked salmon at one end, and flick the tweezers - not unlike a magic wand XD - and the salmon slice will wrap around the tweezers and Voilà a nice tight salmon rose. Also when I am making a sirup, that has to be boild to a specific temp. i flip the tweezers around and slid my themometor to the end, and can now hold it into the boiling sirup without burning my hand in the hot steam. love your videos - i was hooked when you made ommelets - fantastic dedication. best regards Christoffer
Much of the world already does use them. They're called cooking chopsticks and since the majority of those are made of wood, they don't scratch your non-stick pans. They're also much cheaper. That is why Tweezers are considered "hipster gear" and completely unnecessary in any kitchen.
@@blackkat101 i really wish people didn't think any good tool that works is snobbery. For instance unitaskers (which tweezers/chopsticks aren't) are still really worthwhile if you do that one single task frequently enough to warrant a specialized tool.
@@blackkat101 except non-East Asians don’t use chopsticks regularly and saying that they should instead of whatever comes from their own culture because the former are less “hipster” is racist.
@@Astavyastataa It also comes down to price, where you could get the brand one from this video at 12" in length for $12 on amazon, you could get a pack of 6 sets of 16.5" ones for the same price. If you don't know how to use chopsticks, you can cheat your way and put a rubberband on the back side and it works just like tweezers. Do note that the population of Asia 63% of the world and even more than just Asians use chopsticks nowadays all over the world. Myself, I'm only half Asian and have one full Asian friend, while the other dozen or so people I hang out with are all Caucasian (we live in MN, USA). There isn't a single person in said group that doesn't know how to use chopsticks though (though 2 of those people won't use chopsticks just because they don't like to and we respect that). It is believed that at least a third of the world regularly uses chopsticks (just as many people use forks and spoons). Using chopsticks is also healthy for you, since it uses about 30 joints and 50 muscles in your fingers, wrist, arm and shoulders, exercising while you eat (and cook). The cooking chopsticks, while long, can also double down and still be used as an acceptable eating utensil, unlike the specialized metal tweezers. Thus saving kitchen space and money for buying such a specialized product as said tweezers.
@@blackkat101 Bruh my people eat with our hands and we're "Asian". Stop generalizing with this noble savage esoteric woowoo. I use chopsticks and they're great, but holy shit they're not for everyone-and they don't need to be. It's fine for different cultures to do the same thing differently, even if one way is "more efficient". Also, it's great that you have such a cosmopolitan friend group and all but it doesn't make you any better than a random hick who doesn't.
I am a hobby home cook, and have been using these for years! They are amazing. I have several, I'm a doctor and once you learn how to use them they become an extension of your hand.
I made a quite similar experience with this tweezers. I got them for birthday and was not aware of there powers... I buried them in a drawer, until some years later I used them for turning bacon in the frying pan. At that point i recognized there usefulness and they got there place in my arsenal for many tasks.
So happy to se my favorite kitchen tool recommended by Alex! They make cooking so much more fun! The control mixed with the agility makes it feel like a dance going from piece to piece between pans!
When I was in my fathers kitchen when I first saw these as a kid and I always enjoyed using them, just; felt solid and the ease of use, they were a pair of regular tongs for me, but I realize I've never seen them in any other kitchen, nor mine, unless I visit him again. This video made me somewhat nostalgic somehow and appreciative for having a father who were a chef.
I like using tongs a lot, so I think I would really like these too. Chopsticks are ok, I use them a lot for eating, sometimes for cooking. But still, tongs are better, thus I think tweezers would also be better. Nothing wrong with chopsticks, but tongs and tweezers are both more sturdy, stable and you can get firmer grip easier, which is really good for cooking.
Wooden chopsticks is the OG kitchentool when it comes to multilevel-usage. Stiring, flipping, positioning, poking, transferring, lifting and even feeling... all in one tool. After cooking, you can eat with them. Washing up is easy as well. Heatresistent because there made out of wood. And pro thing for me, I mostly use non-stick so its save. All in all, best kitchen utensil. And yes, you can snobbly place microgreens with them as well...
Oh Alex, as a professional chef saying, these tweezers will be your LIFE. You Will never use tongs again, they will feel too big and less grippy. Trust me my friend you will prefer them over a lot of stuff.
without snobbery or fanciness - I swear! - I am a total tweezers-addicted! I happened to discover, in a way just as hapasardish as yours, how versatile they are: flipping, picking, choosing, grabbing, touching, etc. - considering I never got used to chopstick while cooking, they were a gamechenger. and yes, its fantastic role in the egg-shell-fragment phenomenon is well known to me! I have several such tweezers hanging in my kitchen and I hardly prepare a meal without making use of at least three of them! 🤪
Hilarious, I have one of those "posh" Tweezers for some time and I'm by far not as dedicated as Alex but it is very handy and I use it all the time specially for pasta.
Already have them for years! Can't live without them! I'm a regular cook at home! Bur they are so useful for everything you've shown... That's what i use them for
I can't imagine living without tweezers for years already. It makes me so excited that you expand the user base and let other people discover what I love about them. This should be in every kitchen set if you ask me. Not necessary but it makes me feel way more comfortable and joyful in the kitchen.
The more I use a pan to cook my food, the more I use my tweezers. I used to only use them for steaks and IMO they are not big enough to get a good grip on steaks, but for smaller food morsels that are a few touches too small to handle with tongs, tweezers are great. I didn't realize until after watching they would be good for turning food in the oven and perhaps fetching pizzas after they're done cooking.
The tweezers are my number three most used kitchen appliance after the frying pan and spatula. If you're frying bacon, sausages anything that needs lifting without the risk of dropping it tweezers are a must.
I once bought a pretty expensive really high quality kitchen scissor. I love that thing, use it basically every day while cooking. Sometimes you'll find a tool that really matches your style somehow and it's great.
I had the same revelation when I got a pair in a cookware set. They are a bit bulkier but plastic, so they're usable on non-stick pans as well. Second most used utensil in the kitchen after the knife.
Thanks Alex…this vid was exactly what I was looking for to assess my “need” for these tweezers. I loved your delivery style and amusing anecdotes. I’ll be looking forward to watching more of your content. Cheers.
I use larger cheap nylon tweezers, intended primary for pans and frying/grilling, and marketed as one... and I use them for pasta in pot, and I use them for pasta in pan.... I in total, I bought about 4 of them in total, to not run out of them, when one or two are waiting in dishwasher. They are so universal. 90% of time I use them over anything else. Yes, feels like chopsticks... but it works. To 'scrape' remaining sauce from pan - silicon spatula. Bliss. For making spaghetti based dishes, I found also that it is easier to use woks or "wok inspired" pans over regular pans, when mixing is involved.
Alex, my dude. I've been watching your videos avidly for years. But having grabbed a pair of these bad boys recently. This is without a doubt the most relatable video I've ever watched. I've never felt closer to you, to France, and to grabbing food so very precisely.
About 18 months maybe 2 years ago, thinking I was buying smaller garnishing tweezers, I accidentally ended up with a 30 cm pair just like these. They have absolutely grown on me in the way you describe. I don't use them for everything, but I do use them a lot!
I personally use Todai Culinary Tweezers (I see some folks call them Japanese Kitchen Tweezers) because of the handle ridges that let them sit on the counter. They also have a bent end instead of welded so water doesn't get stuck in the crease and cause issues.
I was given a pair of these early in my cooking journey, and I found them to be a valuable tool for fine manipulation where regular kitchen tongs fail to provide sufficient dexterity. Then I got a pair of long stainless-steel chopsticks. Thanks for this informative and fun video, Alex!! Salut!
If it helps, Alex, I grew up in a low-middle class kitchen with a pair of chef tweezers. And they've mostly been used for flipping various cuts of meat in a pan, mostly bacon.
I just finished toasting 2kg of sugar for 6 hours yesterday. So obsessed with detail might be perfect to discribe my cooking style. Keep up the good work xD
I can only recommend trying a few sizes out for yourself. I only bought some out of curiosity and they turned out to be my Number 1 Tool in the kitchen. For those who find chopsticks too cumbersome tweezers are an absolute must-have in my eyes now.
I've been using them since forever, as my mother (no chef, just an housewife) always used them... and gave me a pair when I moved out (of home and of Italy).
A similar tool that I prefer are yakiniku tongs, they're very similar in size and use to cooking tweezers but they have a little handle bit that allows them to be placed on a flat surface while keeping the tips in the air.
Cooking tweezers are a great tool & can easily replace chopsticks for people with hand weaknesses. I have had to remove all the springs from my tongs so all my limited grip strength can go to grabbing the food, most kitchen tweezers are weak enough that I can use them without modification. I haven't been able to use chopsticks for about 7 years now and I hadn't tried kitchen tweezers until about a year ago.
Ha! I love this! I picked up a set of kitchen tweezers right after watching Italia Squisita's videos - after you had mentioned them at the start of this series. They have become my everyday tool! I love them so much! Best pickle grabbing tool out there.
Carving fork and a ladle works wonders. One of the worst things is thinking you need something when there are already things you more than likely have in house.
Welcome to the tweezer clan, Alex. I've been using them for years, first in the lab, and the when I forgot to bring regular tongs to a campout and needed something to flip bacon over a campfire, and had them in my car because I swiped a pair to retrieve my keys when I dropped them between the driver's seat and the shifter console 🤦🏼♀️. And they worked so well I actually bought a pair from Thermo-Fisher to use in my kitchen, and the rest is history, as the saying goes. I had no idea they were a symbol of kitchen snobbery! I use all kinds of lab equipment in the kitchen, but my tweezers, my micro balance, and my sep funnel are my favorites 😁.
Well, I've had 3 different sizes of tweezers for quite a while but have only used them to get vanilla beans out of extract bottles when the bottles have narrow necks. I think it's time I move the long ones to the kitchen drawer. I do have cooking chopsticks but have problems trying to grab bigger items with them slipping from the grasp of the chopsticks. Thanks for the video, and the idea.
yeah, outside of people with dexterity issues I'd go with cooking shop sticks. same everything, no 'non-stick' pan issues, can pick up pretty much all the same stuff and are about $3 at my local shop.
I’m a Italian long pasta home cook enthusiast and I recently got the exact same tool … used for more than pasta and I approve totally , the only thing that piss me off it the scraping sound when you use them on the pan
Every upscale casual restaurant i have worked at uses tweezers, it was never about looking or performing fancy but just the utilization of them, they truly are a tool that comes in handy. Lost mine last night 😢
I found some of these a few years ago. Originally I thought they would be perfect gardening (I garden in a empty room in my Las Vegas apartment). Tiny seeds in a perfect depth and all that stuff. I needed something long and grabby in the kitchen one day and short story long, I use them all the time.
I'm so happy to see you got some kitchen tweasers! I think when you were looking for kitchen utensils for your hidden cabinet of commented about how great a set of them would look in there.
As a Chef with tattooed arms. From
Norway, this really hit home. I also hated kitchen tweezers. But yeah.. they grew on me
yeah because you are a chef with tatooed arms hipster hahaha
Björn Norwegian Guy Cooking is that you?
Chopsticks are cheaper
You missed “named Bjorn”
@@greymatters14 look at his name (btw Bjørn is the Norwegian way of spelling Björn)
"I'm not a tweezers chef, what's next in store for me?"
Becoming a chopstick chef.
I was going to say, aren't those just a big pair of tweezers...
oOps, I mean ChopSticks. 👀😂
Funny thing is I've been using chopsticks to do all the things Alex mentions in this video for a while and here I thought I was being weird.
Cooking chopsticks can pretty much do everything tweezers can without looking like a snob, and they don't scratch nonstick pans. And there really isn't anything too large or small to flip with chopsticks. I have flipped an entire rack of ribs with chopsticks on a grill. The downside is that you have to build up dexterity to do that. If you don't have that yet, you can just use the 'rubberband trick' to turn them into tweezers.
Yeah. I worry about scratching my one perfect little non stick pan. I have a drawer FULL of take out bamboo chopsticks. I couldn't justify these.
I have a slew of chopsticks that I use in the kitchen. These aren't the same although I do agree that between them there is a lot of cross-over. Chopsticks are straight and leverage to a point. These curve inward and have a longer parallel section and that is a big difference when picking up 20 strands of pasta vs 1.
Chopsticks can do more, like checking the temperature of frying oil. It takes some practice but is good enough for a home kitchen
you don’t have nearly as much strength with chopsticks though + scratching a stainless steel/cast iron/carbon steel pan is not a problem
If you choose chopsticks over tweezers because you don't want to "look like a snob" then you are, in fact, a snob
As a tourist guide in Vietnam, a chopstick using country, i’ve had countless tourists ask me why we use chopsticks instead of spatulas, forks, tongs and whatnot. Well…. our chopsticks might not be the best tool for many jobs but they are good for a lot of things.
What silly about the question is that they asked it because they saw people doing things that they would do with spatulas, for, and tongs.
And since they see people doing those things, they had the answer before they asked the question.
I ask westerners why the hell they eat rice with a fork.
I'm German. Wife is Chinese. I now use big chopsticks cooking in the kitchen. She converted me. LOL They're super handy!!!
Eating a salad with chopsticks is far easier than with a fork.
I watched a video on TH-cam explaining the origin of chopsticks. It’s mostly due to economical reasons, back then metal is very rare and expensive while wood and bamboo are abundant. Chopping food in smaller pieces cooks faster and saves fuel, and you don’t need a knife on a dinning table.
I eat potato chips with chopsticks, keep my hands clean.
We're so close to realizing chop sticks are the master kitchen tool.
They even work with non-stick pans. :D
I was about to say, “So, basically like chopsticks?” I keep saying this over and over: the Asians figured sh*t out long ago
These are far superior to chop sticks.
@@isoslow sounds like a skill issue to me.
@@isoslow seems to be a skill issue
Alex truly is a master storyteller. 8.5 minutes of giant tweezer-talk.I love it
true
@@william6171 I stayed for all of it.
Thanks Björn now I need to get some hipster kitchen tweezers.
And a fork tattoo.
There's a barbershop in Oslo that sells kitchen tweezers. You can pick some up while you're getting your head shaved.
@@-_James_- which one is that. Sounds like a fun place 😊
I love how he plates the pasta with the tweezers BUT still puts the greenery on top with his hands haha
I've had a pair of these for ages, but I originally used them when qualifying autoclaves (to get the bio indicators from the far recesses without searing myself). Now I mostly use them to rescue fallen objects from behind furniture. Perhaps I'll get a new pair specifically for the kitchen...
Get pair of tweezers laced with e coli , from ur lab
You could have a used a hemostat.
Who asked
@@hsvr
No one needs to for people to make reasoned comments.
No one asked you either but your comment was not reasoned.
@@hsvr I mean… that applies to you too lmao. Do you really need the concept of a “comment section” explained to you? 😂
Such tweezers were amongst my first kitchen utensils. I studied chemistry and had to get all the personal lab equipment. The unused surplus, including the tweezers and several borosilicate beakers ended up in my kitchen and I still use them 25 years later.
I'm not a chemist but I find out that using beakers is the cheapest way to mesure things. I have from 50ml to 600ml
@@alec0065 I mean cooking is the artistic version of chemistry.
Now I need a Bunsen burner in my kitchen. Not sure what I'm going to with it, but my biochemistry education seems to demand it.
@@StrixyN make hot chocolate in a beaker
@@StrixyN And vacuum and air ports to go with the water faucet.
It turns out making tons and tons of pasta kind of makes you a pasta master Alex
only if you succeed. If you fail even after making tons of pasta, makes you even bigger looser.
You can use those tweezers for glassblowing too! I usually use a non-serrated version to avoid marking the glass, but for handling hot (but solid) glass the serrated ones are useful too.
I would, however, recommend keeping separate pairs for glass and kitchen use...
Everyone’s taking about chopsticks, but after watching an about to eat video about kitchen tools I bought a set of yakitori tongs. They’re essentially tweezers, except more ergonomic and shaped in a way that when you set them down, the tips don’t touch the countertop. Highly recommended, and very cheap. (Also called yakiniku or Korean bbq tongs)
Yakitori is a Japanese word for grilled chicken, yakiniku is grilled meat respectively... Better just call them self-standing tongs
Never heard of these before, but I just looked them up and will prob be getting some now lol. Thanks for the recommendation!
@@feedbackzaloop Good shout! Though mainly Korean ones come up when I search that. Mine are specifically Japanese yakiniku tongs, so those are the only ones I can comment on for quality.
Nice info, its like 3$ here too for japanese style that have point-ish end instead of korean big round end
Bamboo (perhaps wooden) tweezers seem to be the sweet spot here. Far too many billions of people have little or no experience with the manifold advantages of chopsticks. Alex just demonstrated some of the advantages of kitchen tweezers, and he implied no judgement over other utensils, other than tweezers were preferable to him in some applications. It seems many people are (quite hilariously) taking this simple fact personally. Alex shared his discovery with us. This knowledge has led both him and me to improve our skills as cooks. We all strive to be better. Bottom line: I believe this is one of Alex's best videos, if only because he explains and demonstrates what he has learned as he endeavors to improve his cooking skills.
Yeah there's this weird knee-jerk reaction from asia fanboys (& fangirls?) like both things are as equally good and thats OK. LIke guys tone down the angst please lol.
ha, I started using chopsticks at some point and now trying to cook without them is a pain
they're so useful for basically everything.
To improve the kitchen hygiene aspect, I like having two pairs of tweezers in different colors. That way you can dedicate one to handling raw ingredients and one for cooked. This color-coded system is especially useful when grilling on my konro.
Love that you are using them! I have been using wooden chopsticks in my cooking for a long time now. They're great! They're flipping tools and stirring tools for both delicate and heavy duty stuff.
exactly what i was thinking! AND they won't scratch the pan
Yes! So much more versatile than those fancy pants kitchen tweezers lol
I've had a pair for 2 years. I follow your videos and 5 chefs out of Italy. They all use them. I love mine and is my #1 kitchen tool. I also got a stainless steel pan that is almost like a wok 1 chef uses. The 2 together are indispensable. Thank you Alex!
Fascinating how similar our thoughts on this are.
I would almost say I'm snobby about not being too snobby. Functionality and practicality, is what I try to focus on.
And now you went and inspired me to consider buying yet another kitchen tool.
I'll comfort myself with the thought that it isn't the tool that makes the snob. It's about what's done with the tool.
Your wanna write a book about your experience?
I've used kitchen tweezers for years and I am a lowly bachelor meat and potatoes cook. I keep them by the stove right next to the chopsticks. Glad to have my little quirk validaded by the admirably competent.
There is no snobbery at all in using a simple tool providing precision and selectivity in food manupulation.
the german brand rösle makes fantastic tongs/tweezers even with silicon tips. i got mine 2 months ago and im using them pretty much all the time. maybe i get metal tweezers too, because they are worse at gripping really soft delicate stuff like the egg in the video but they are so handy
I have had the same idea as you about tweezers for a long time. And now my tweezer have turned up and I'm sooo glad. Best thing ever
For those of us who’ve grown up with chopsticks and have good dexterity with them, tweezers are like a restrictive version of the tool we always use. I can’t see myself using a pair of tweezers but they’re certainly much easier to use for people who haven’t been using chopsticks all their lives!
The benefit is picking up the tool itself in my opinion. If you’re cooking something that doesn’t require much attention like bacon, it’s nice to just be able to grab the tool quickly and use it quickly without positioning it
With larger tool, I think I prefer tweezers being prepositioned, over control. It takes more effort and focus with larger chopsticks and I find it not worth it. They also are better for mixing using "fist grab" - they are like fork then, and easier one to maintain in hold.
@@costillero2189 yes I have a pair that were given to me. I sometimes use them when barbecuing but haven’t really found them replacing chopsticks in the kitchen.
Chopsticks are great but less so for heavy foods
Thats also the beauty of them, they're always ready to go faster because you just gravitate to the join, they can be tossed into a washer basket without falling through and stopping the wash. but unless your doing some werid stuff they're as agile as chop sticks and I can hold in any orientation or fingers. Bandage your dominant fingers for example or burn them or what have you, I can hang tweezers on a pocket or in
Alex, there is such a thing like the right tool for the job. These are obviously useful. No snobbery in my eyes and only things that help making your life easier.
I usually keep a plastic pair of tweezers in my kitchen, simply due to use them in non stick pans as well.
yeah i prefer to use wood because i don't even fully trust plastic to not harden to the point of potentially dmaging the teflon over a long time of prolonged heat using them
but yeah, if you don't use them all the time, what's the harm really, the teflon itself could also be a problem to begin with if that's a concern :D
Imagine using nonstick 😬😐💀
cooking chopsticks in nonstick works
Tho wood tweezers might be a thing.
You can use Silicone Caps to not ruin your Non-Stick Pans (unless you cook at a higher temp then 226ish Celcius/440 Fahrenheit) if you use Metal Tweezers. But Wooden Tweezers just work as well (can even use a rubberband to transform your chopsticks to makeshift tweezers hehe).
@@Y0G0FU
lol ye that works 😆
The reason these are delightful is- there is very little between big, sturdy, clumsy kitchen tongs… and bare hands for delicate movements.
Tongs allow for precise adjustments in high heat. Precise movements that can be very tough for a sturdy pair of tongs that were likely created for moving or flipping large steaks. But of you need to fold over a small end of skirt steak, so it gets seared perfectly for presentation- a precise set of tweezers may be for you.
Of flipping sliced mushrooms in a pan.
they're just basically small tongs, that also add a functionality of puncturing because of their small size, so yeah obviously they are nice to have around
I love how after using the tongs to place the pasta you specifically showed using your hands to place the greens
Might sound hipstery, but I've had tweezers from my days as a biology student and I've used them for cooking for a long time. They are not as long, but they are really practical. Didn't know they were high end kitchen tools until I saw them in a couple of videos. Made me think I had the right mind hehe
Same. I bought another pair because no matter how well they've been cleaned, I still remember where and when I've used them. If you need longer tweezers and don't want to pay for the medical/surgical grade, Korean and Japanese restaurants use extra long ones for grilling and they are not that expensive. Also the finger pads are shaped so the tongs stay off the table when you set them down. They are great when the food you are cooking is too delicate for tongs.
It's dirty
This made me happy! I’ve been telling anyone who will listen how amazing those are to have in the kitchen. I even keep a pair in my knife roll for when I travel.
Been using tongs for years in my kitchen, simple fully metal ones that are pretty narrow, close to these kitchen tweezers in the video. So much better and more useful than almost anything else. I've even brought them with me a few times when I've cooked at friend's homes. It's been weirdly hard to convince people about how great of a tool they are. Really happy to see this video, it'll surely help bring this tool to more kitchens around the world 😄
I've had these tweezers for a few years now, and they're my favourite kitchen tool. Good for pretty much everything, as long as it's not too heavy. Combined with silicon coated tongs, I have everything I need.
I'm a physicist, and I use a bit of lab equipment in my kitchen, without pretense. They're just simple, well designed tools. Long tweezers are probably the my desert-island kitchen tool from the lab.
I've been using my kitchen tweezers for about 15 years now; mine are 18 in" though, I use them a lot when flipping things on the BBQ too. Also once I got a dropped bolt out of the space between the radiator and the grille of my car. They also make a really good gift; have a few on hand and then you can give them to folks at house-warmings and such.
been using them for over 8 years, honestly one of the best kitchen tools for home cook
It always amazes me how easy and often they pretty much skip when the chef is plating in pasta videos with these tweezers, that's a huge part of how to make the dish look amazing!!
chinese wok cooking sticks grew on me way more.
The original tweezers that require skill. Chinese ancestors are proud of this comment.
Just saw your video ... ordered a set for myself and one for my daughter ... seeing how well they work just opened my eyes .... thank you
When you assess something as useful not because of its rep, or despite its rep, but because of actual usefulness.....that is a true chef attitude. Go forth unafraid of ignorant opinions of the uninformed....you are on a true path.
I ordered tweezers...and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!
....and I've found that when I saute scallops in browned butter, the tweezers are just the thing....
I bought a kitchen set a few years back and got one of these made of hard plastic, maybe a little bigger than these in the video, or even the same size. I love them, they have a use all the time
XD I love that you are using your Tweezers. The big tweezers that you are using are fantastic! being a chef (lol in Denmark) I have been using them for almost 20 years now - they are not hipster gear -but very functional work tools. Every home should own a par, as they can be used in a bunch of ways other than just in the hot kitchen - ex. i have often used they to make roses out of smoked salmon - fast - very good when your making many. Just grab your slice of smoked salmon at one end, and flick the tweezers - not unlike a magic wand XD - and the salmon slice will wrap around the tweezers and Voilà a nice tight salmon rose.
Also when I am making a sirup, that has to be boild to a specific temp. i flip the tweezers around and slid my themometor to the end, and can now hold it into the boiling sirup without burning my hand in the hot steam.
love your videos - i was hooked when you made ommelets - fantastic dedication.
best regards
Christoffer
Much of the world already does use them. They're called cooking chopsticks and since the majority of those are made of wood, they don't scratch your non-stick pans.
They're also much cheaper.
That is why Tweezers are considered "hipster gear" and completely unnecessary in any kitchen.
@@blackkat101 i really wish people didn't think any good tool that works is snobbery. For instance unitaskers (which tweezers/chopsticks aren't) are still really worthwhile if you do that one single task frequently enough to warrant a specialized tool.
@@blackkat101 except non-East Asians don’t use chopsticks regularly and saying that they should instead of whatever comes from their own culture because the former are less “hipster” is racist.
@@Astavyastataa It also comes down to price, where you could get the brand one from this video at 12" in length for $12 on amazon, you could get a pack of 6 sets of 16.5" ones for the same price. If you don't know how to use chopsticks, you can cheat your way and put a rubberband on the back side and it works just like tweezers. Do note that the population of Asia 63% of the world and even more than just Asians use chopsticks nowadays all over the world. Myself, I'm only half Asian and have one full Asian friend, while the other dozen or so people I hang out with are all Caucasian (we live in MN, USA). There isn't a single person in said group that doesn't know how to use chopsticks though (though 2 of those people won't use chopsticks just because they don't like to and we respect that).
It is believed that at least a third of the world regularly uses chopsticks (just as many people use forks and spoons).
Using chopsticks is also healthy for you, since it uses about 30 joints and 50 muscles in your fingers, wrist, arm and shoulders, exercising while you eat (and cook).
The cooking chopsticks, while long, can also double down and still be used as an acceptable eating utensil, unlike the specialized metal tweezers. Thus saving kitchen space and money for buying such a specialized product as said tweezers.
@@blackkat101 Bruh my people eat with our hands and we're "Asian". Stop generalizing with this noble savage esoteric woowoo. I use chopsticks and they're great, but holy shit they're not for everyone-and they don't need to be. It's fine for different cultures to do the same thing differently, even if one way is "more efficient". Also, it's great that you have such a cosmopolitan friend group and all but it doesn't make you any better than a random hick who doesn't.
I am a hobby home cook, and have been using these for years! They are amazing. I have several, I'm a doctor and once you learn how to use them they become an extension of your hand.
I love my kitchen tweezers - I also own a second pair with bent ends. And: They are pretty cheap if you look fur surgical instruments.
I made a quite similar experience with this tweezers. I got them for birthday and was not aware of there powers... I buried them in a drawer, until some years later I used them for turning bacon in the frying pan. At that point i recognized there usefulness and they got there place in my arsenal for many tasks.
I used salade tongs once on a bbq and now it's like a second hand that's also fire proof
I like the big metal "line cook" tongs for flipping saucy or super hot things ,to set them down without splashing.
@@Neenerella333 eggs in pans whitout splatter or crack
So happy to se my favorite kitchen tool recommended by Alex! They make cooking so much more fun! The control mixed with the agility makes it feel like a dance going from piece to piece between pans!
Been using kitchen tweezers for 15 years, one of the most versatile tool in the kitchen.
When I was in my fathers kitchen when I first saw these as a kid and I always enjoyed using them, just; felt solid and the ease of use, they were a pair of regular tongs for me, but I realize I've never seen them in any other kitchen, nor mine, unless I visit him again. This video made me somewhat nostalgic somehow and appreciative for having a father who were a chef.
This was the most exhilarating video about tweezers I've ever watched.
I love your struggle with this tool! Same here..... I got them as a gift and love them!!!
I like using tongs a lot, so I think I would really like these too. Chopsticks are ok, I use them a lot for eating, sometimes for cooking. But still, tongs are better, thus I think tweezers would also be better. Nothing wrong with chopsticks, but tongs and tweezers are both more sturdy, stable and you can get firmer grip easier, which is really good for cooking.
Wooden chopsticks is the OG kitchentool when it comes to multilevel-usage.
Stiring, flipping, positioning, poking, transferring, lifting and even feeling... all in one tool.
After cooking, you can eat with them. Washing up is easy as well. Heatresistent because there made out of wood. And pro thing for me, I mostly use non-stick so its save.
All in all, best kitchen utensil.
And yes, you can snobbly place microgreens with them as well...
Oh Alex, as a professional chef saying, these tweezers will be your LIFE. You Will never use tongs again, they will feel too big and less grippy. Trust me my friend you will prefer them over a lot of stuff.
without snobbery or fanciness - I swear! - I am a total tweezers-addicted!
I happened to discover, in a way just as hapasardish as yours, how versatile they are: flipping, picking, choosing, grabbing, touching, etc. - considering I never got used to chopstick while cooking, they were a gamechenger. and yes, its fantastic role in the egg-shell-fragment phenomenon is well known to me!
I have several such tweezers hanging in my kitchen and I hardly prepare a meal without making use of at least three of them! 🤪
Hilarious, I have one of those "posh" Tweezers for some time and I'm by far not as dedicated as Alex but it is very handy and I use it all the time specially for pasta.
Already have them for years! Can't live without them! I'm a regular cook at home! Bur they are so useful for everything you've shown... That's what i use them for
As most women can attest… tweezers, of any size, are one of the most useful tools ever invented. 😂
do barbecue tongs constitute as tweezers though?
Yas !
Sewing, hygiene, cooking... yep, pretty useful
@@klontjespap I would call them the "Brute Force" kind of tweezers.
I can't imagine living without tweezers for years already.
It makes me so excited that you expand the user base and let other people discover what I love about them.
This should be in every kitchen set if you ask me. Not necessary but it makes me feel way more comfortable and joyful in the kitchen.
Oh and I would recommend having plastic temperature safe ones way more often than these made of metal
Chopsticks (cough
your hand will hurt if you use chopstick on heavy stuff
Chopstick use is much more versatile.
@@ericmarcelino4381 That's what tongs are for. This tool is that middle ground between chopsticks and tongs.
The more I use a pan to cook my food, the more I use my tweezers. I used to only use them for steaks and IMO they are not big enough to get a good grip on steaks, but for smaller food morsels that are a few touches too small to handle with tongs, tweezers are great. I didn't realize until after watching they would be good for turning food in the oven and perhaps fetching pizzas after they're done cooking.
Maybe cause I’m asian, but I just do everything you do with chopsticks 😂
The tweezers are my number three most used kitchen appliance after the frying pan and spatula. If you're frying bacon, sausages anything that needs lifting without the risk of dropping it tweezers are a must.
😆 same. I never thought I needed or wanted the tongies but I now use them ALL THE TIME!
I once bought a pretty expensive really high quality kitchen scissor. I love that thing, use it basically every day while cooking. Sometimes you'll find a tool that really matches your style somehow and it's great.
i loved that you placed the green with your hand 3:23.
I had the same revelation when I got a pair in a cookware set. They are a bit bulkier but plastic, so they're usable on non-stick pans as well. Second most used utensil in the kitchen after the knife.
I love mine. They are worth it. Work very well and always get questions on why I use them and love them.
Thanks Alex…this vid was exactly what I was looking for to assess my “need” for these tweezers. I loved your delivery style and amusing anecdotes. I’ll be looking forward to watching more of your content. Cheers.
The fact that he still uses his hands at 3:23 is hilarious
my gf and i watch these videos and just smile the whole time. this channel is awesome
I use larger cheap nylon tweezers, intended primary for pans and frying/grilling, and marketed as one... and I use them for pasta in pot, and I use them for pasta in pan.... I in total, I bought about 4 of them in total, to not run out of them, when one or two are waiting in dishwasher. They are so universal. 90% of time I use them over anything else. Yes, feels like chopsticks... but it works.
To 'scrape' remaining sauce from pan - silicon spatula. Bliss.
For making spaghetti based dishes, I found also that it is easier to use woks or "wok inspired" pans over regular pans, when mixing is involved.
I had the exact same opinion and now I’m receiving your tweezers coming Tuesday. Thanks a lot.
That "Björn" pronunciation was on point!
Alex, my dude.
I've been watching your videos avidly for years. But having grabbed a pair of these bad boys recently. This is without a doubt the most relatable video I've ever watched. I've never felt closer to you, to France, and to grabbing food so very precisely.
About 18 months maybe 2 years ago, thinking I was buying smaller garnishing tweezers, I accidentally ended up with a 30 cm pair just like these. They have absolutely grown on me in the way you describe. I don't use them for everything, but I do use them a lot!
Alex, you're hysterical! Your videos are full of great tips and information and ... they're fun to watch. Good work. Excellente!
I personally use Todai Culinary Tweezers (I see some folks call them Japanese Kitchen Tweezers) because of the handle ridges that let them sit on the counter. They also have a bent end instead of welded so water doesn't get stuck in the crease and cause issues.
I was given a pair of these early in my cooking journey, and I found them to be a valuable tool for fine manipulation where regular kitchen tongs fail to provide sufficient dexterity.
Then I got a pair of long stainless-steel chopsticks.
Thanks for this informative and fun video, Alex!! Salut!
If it helps, Alex, I grew up in a low-middle class kitchen with a pair of chef tweezers. And they've mostly been used for flipping various cuts of meat in a pan, mostly bacon.
I just finished toasting 2kg of sugar for 6 hours yesterday. So obsessed with detail might be perfect to discribe my cooking style. Keep up the good work xD
I can only recommend trying a few sizes out for yourself. I only bought some out of curiosity and they turned out to be my Number 1 Tool in the kitchen. For those who find chopsticks too cumbersome tweezers are an absolute must-have in my eyes now.
Enjoy your videos! I’m all for learning with a smile… you are special. Don’t change your spots…. Thank you.
I've got some fairly similar plastic tweezers, and they're fantastic. They don't damage non-stick, so I use them for virtually everything.
I've been using them since forever, as my mother (no chef, just an housewife) always used them... and gave me a pair when I moved out (of home and of Italy).
A similar tool that I prefer are yakiniku tongs, they're very similar in size and use to cooking tweezers but they have a little handle bit that allows them to be placed on a flat surface while keeping the tips in the air.
Cooking tweezers are a great tool & can easily replace chopsticks for people with hand weaknesses. I have had to remove all the springs from my tongs so all my limited grip strength can go to grabbing the food, most kitchen tweezers are weak enough that I can use them without modification. I haven't been able to use chopsticks for about 7 years now and I hadn't tried kitchen tweezers until about a year ago.
Ha! I love this! I picked up a set of kitchen tweezers right after watching Italia Squisita's videos - after you had mentioned them at the start of this series. They have become my everyday tool! I love them so much! Best pickle grabbing tool out there.
Carving fork and a ladle works wonders. One of the worst things is thinking you need something when there are already things you more than likely have in house.
Welcome to the tweezer clan, Alex. I've been using them for years, first in the lab, and the when I forgot to bring regular tongs to a campout and needed something to flip bacon over a campfire, and had them in my car because I swiped a pair to retrieve my keys when I dropped them between the driver's seat and the shifter console 🤦🏼♀️. And they worked so well I actually bought a pair from Thermo-Fisher to use in my kitchen, and the rest is history, as the saying goes. I had no idea they were a symbol of kitchen snobbery! I use all kinds of lab equipment in the kitchen, but my tweezers, my micro balance, and my sep funnel are my favorites 😁.
Thank you Alex for that wonderful review of a lesser known kitchen tool. I've always said the right tool for the job... I think I need those!
I also like the Korean BBQ tongs and/or the scissors they use to cut up the bits of meat. So useful.
We used this type of tweezer in the lab for various tasks like grabbing toxic stuff or dunking eppendorf tubes(look them up) in liquid nitrogen!
I don’t care shit about the tool, I just enjoy listening to you so much.
I love you. You are amazing ❤️
Well, I've had 3 different sizes of tweezers for quite a while but have only used them to get vanilla beans out of extract bottles when the bottles have narrow necks. I think it's time I move the long ones to the kitchen drawer. I do have cooking chopsticks but have problems trying to grab bigger items with them slipping from the grasp of the chopsticks. Thanks for the video, and the idea.
I’m not sure if I like or dislike how much influence you hold over my opinion of everything cooking.
yeah, outside of people with dexterity issues I'd go with cooking shop sticks. same everything, no 'non-stick' pan issues, can pick up pretty much all the same stuff and are about $3 at my local shop.
I’m a Italian long pasta home cook enthusiast and I recently got the exact same tool … used for more than pasta and I approve totally , the only thing that piss me off it the scraping sound when you use them on the pan
Every upscale casual restaurant i have worked at uses tweezers, it was never about looking or performing fancy but just the utilization of them, they truly are a tool that comes in handy. Lost mine last night 😢
I found some of these a few years ago. Originally I thought they would be perfect gardening (I garden in a empty room in my Las Vegas apartment). Tiny seeds in a perfect depth and all that stuff. I needed something long and grabby in the kitchen one day and short story long, I use them all the time.
I'm so happy to see you got some kitchen tweasers! I think when you were looking for kitchen utensils for your hidden cabinet of commented about how great a set of them would look in there.