On Wed, 7 Jul 2004 18:13:05 -0400
"Charles Baker" > wrote:


> WOW.
> When I was in culinary school not to long ago, I wondered why so many
> cooks were carrying around tool boxes and tackle boxes, rather than a
> specialized kitchen equipment carrier. Most if not all chefs use a
> lot of interesting tools in their arsenal of food preparation and
> presentation. Plumbing copper pipes may be cut down, sanded out, and
> cleaned to be used to mold towers of pasta, salad, ice cream, etc..
> Sure you can use a lot of different tools, (saws, hammers, pliers,
> nails, etc,) and a lot of different mediums (ceramic bathroom tiles in
> place of plates), plastic bins or straw baskets for fermenting or
> proofing breads. And that is completely up to you.


The box you carry your tools in, even if it's leaching plasticizers
and outgassing solvents, just isn't going to have much affect on the
tools therein. Especially if you wash it first.

Metal is generally free of chemical contaminants - especially if
it's been sanded down. Ceramics are heated hot enough to vaporize any
organics that might be in them, and glazed ceramics don't even present
the possibility of leaching heavy metals that may or may not be in them.

Nails are slightly iffy. They are frequently coated to make them
stick to the wood. You'd want to run them through a commercial grade
dishwasher first. ditto just about any woodworking equipment - often
coated with water repellants. After the dishwasher, though, no problem.

Those plastic bins may have actually been specified as food-safe.
Never heard of anybody putting dough directly inside a straw basket.
Seems like you'd get straw in the dough.

Garbage bags, however, smell funny when warm, which indicates that
they are outgassing . . . . something. something i don't want in my
bread. I don't know what it is, but I'll pass.