Is there a prescribed recipe, with noted and specified paradigms that make the perfect hot towel—or, at least, a dressing that would be passable among an informed majority as a “hot towel”?
First you’d have to find an informed majority who knew what the heck you’re talking about… you mean, like, in barber shops, where they shave the guy, then drop the steaming-hot towel on his freshly-shaven face?
I have had hot towels in Indian restaurants, they always seem to be damp as well as hot so I would proffer that steam is used to heat them.
There are also heated towel rods for bathrooms. If I ever get around to remodeling my bathroom I’m going to get one.
- Put towels into boiling lemon water
- Remove with tongs
- Use machine to press out excess water
- Fold and roll immediately to retain heat
Well, first you get a perfect towel. Then you heat it up.
Yeah. Sorry I didn’t explain further. I mean exactly that sort, or the kind you get in first-class traveling accomodations.
On preview, I see Hampshire has a good recipe. Is lemon water usually used? Are the towels used the kind that are designated “hand-size”, i.e., “hand towels”? There’s some sort of a press, I guess, to remove water?
like, in barber shops, where they shave the guy, then drop the steaming-hot towel on his freshly-shaven face?
You need to change barbers right away. The damp, hot towel goes on your face before the shave. It raises and softens the beard. After the shave you get an alcohol based lotion to cool your skin and shrink the pores.
As for hot towels for use after dinner, I would use plain white washcloths. Hand-towels would be a bit large for convinent use at the dinner table, I think.
If your circumstances allow, I would simply rinse them in hot water from the faucet, wring them out and then give them to my guests immediately. Why would you give your guests something so hot that it had to be handled with tongs?
I always thought tongs were used to prevent the waitstaff from touching (and thus contaminating) the towel themselves. So, the patron will be the first to use a completely sterile towel.
Of course, it would be naive to think that the towel wasn’t rolled by hand in the first place. But it’s the image that counts.
Well, that’s how Jerry Lewis always does it…
On Hawaiian Air in first I’ve seen the flight attendent just pour hot water from a pitcher on rolled up terry face towels.
Sure, you could boil lemon water, roll terrycloth, and get a hot towel…
OR
…You could buy a machine to do it allfor you! I’ve seen these at a sushi place. Seemed very Japanese.
Google “hot towel machine”.
At the spa I worked at we used a steam cabinet. Which did indeed come with tongs. Before we purchased the cabinet, we used a crock pot. Which of course had never been used for food. We also used electric frying pans for warming the stones for a stone massage, or you can use an electric roaster pan for either of these applications. Same idea and much less expensive than the units sold for these purposes.
In first class on most major airlines, they do tend to smell kind of lemony.
And yes, they are white, “hand-size” washcloths, maybe 10" square.
p.s. Very refreshing after a long day! 
What do you people DO with a hot towel?
Sorry, we are sworn to secrecy. First rule of hot towel club and all.
I may be in the minority, but I drop washcloths into a bowl of lemon water, wring out lightly, roll/fold then place in microwave. Works great.
One of my old barber shops would wet down a towel and microwave it as well. My current guy wrings out a towel soaked under hot water.
I have no idea how the japanese restaurants do it. Since they give one to each patron, I would assume that they’d roll them up in advance and set them aside in a steamer to keep warm.
When restaurants give them out here they are sealed in a cellophane. I assumed therefore they were heated in a microwave.
Presumably the towels are heated after they are rolled by hand.