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Culinary Arts & Cooking vocabulary · Kitchen Equipment

Tongs

Meaning in culinary arts & cooking, with examples

/tɒŋz/nounCore term

In culinary arts & cooking, tongs means: A tool with two connected arms that you squeeze together to pick up, turn or serve food without touching it.

In Turkish: maşa, mutfak maşası

How it is used

Used on the grill, at the fryer and on buffets. Tongs is always plural: a pair of tongs, these tongs. For food safety, kitchens keep separate tongs for raw and cooked food.

Example sentences

  1. Use the red tongs for raw chicken only.

  2. Can you pass me those tongs? I need to turn the ribs.

Common collocations

  • a pair of tongs
  • kitchen tongs
  • serving tongs
  • turn with tongs
  • grillTo cook food over or under strong, direct heat, giving it brown marks and a smoky flavour. As a noun, a grill is the equipment used for this.
  • cross-contaminationThe spread of harmful bacteria or allergens from one food, surface, tool or person to another, for example from raw meat to a salad.
  • deep-fryTo cook food by putting it completely under hot oil, usually between about 160°C and 190°C, until it is crisp and golden.
  • stationAn area of the kitchen where one cook or a small team prepares one type of food, such as the grill, fry, sauce or garnish station.

More terms: Kitchen Equipment

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