Hi we need working oven mitts for carrying hot foods long distances in our house. I used some very thick new oven mitts but it got too hot and I had to put it down half-way through my journey.
Then I found a red square that looks like it is made out of plastic or rubber. I had the food resting on top of it and it lasted the whole journey and it was cool to touch on the bottom side of the red square.
This is what it looks like:
No-one in our house knows where it comes from. I guess it is from an Australian store/stores or maybe on eBay or online…
Thanks if you can tell me where to buy it - I want one that works equally as well - not another failure like those think oven mitts.
Looks like it is probably Silicone. You should be able to get them from any department store, or kitchen store.
Not sure about Australia in particular, but what you’re looking for is a pretty generic item: a silicone pot holder (or oven mitt), as opposed to the regular cotton fabric kind. Silicone can have lower thermal conductivity than cotton. It also holds its structure better (meaning it compresses less, and so retains its insulation better) and isn’t permeable to water vapor, which can burn you directly through steam or at least conducts more heat.
The downside is that it’s not as flexible as a cotton mitt, so you’re less dextrous with them on.
Something in between them might be Nomex gloves – a flame retardant DuPont material used by firefighters, jet pilots, racecar drivers, etc. They’re not terribly expensive, but they’re also generally woven into a thinnish glove and not the thick bulky mittens like silicon mitts are, so once you pick something up with them, the weight of the item will compress the fabric somewhat and decrease its insulative abilities.
If you’re the DIY type, maybe you can make very insulative pot holders by sewing/quilting Nomex fabric around an inner layer of silica aerogel… but that’d be quite pricey.
I’ve got a purple one exactly the same. It is actually a pot trivet, for placing a hot saucepan on the bench. I believe I bought it at House. They have silicon hand mitts which are far more versatile.
Yeah, it’s a silicone trivet - if a particularly thick one. I got mine (in the same pink colour) at Woolies, and I’m sure I saw some for sale on the weekend at K-mart.
:o* So um… for a long time, I had two of these and didn’t know what they did. I mainly used them for grip for opening jars and such. I know silicone can be heat resistant, but never put together that plastic/rubber won’t immediately melt.
*How is that embarrassment?
I saw them at Spotlight this week.
I got a couple of these to use as potholders, but when I did, the heat instantly transferred right through them. Which made them useless for that purpose.
Yes, you’ll want to get a thick one with a “honeycomb” structure like in the picture. The normal ones conduct heat quite well.
You can try Howard’s Storage World, Kmart, or if you’re not in a hurry:
Hmmm… mine look exactly like the picture and have the honeycomb structure. What am I doing wrong?
No? Hmm are the things you put on it heavy enough to collapse the cells? I assume they’re about as thick as those in the pictures.