The Clever Way You Can Use One Kitchen Tool As A Bottle Opener

A wonderfully multipurpose, multifaceted kitchen tool, tongs may be the most underrated culinary utensil (via Wonder How To). Used in savory and sweet cooking, they're fantastic for sautéing any sort of protein, terrific for tossing pasta or salad, and superb to use when grilling. One particularly inventive use for tongs, though, has to do with something that isn't inherently cooking-based.

It's a common frustration when you proceed to open a bottle and then realize that you don't have the proper tool. Whether that bottle houses a cooking ingredient, a libation, or a beverage devoid of alcohol, having to jerry-rig a potential opener out of household tools can be time-consuming — and in some cases, dangerous, per Wonder How To. Did you know that the next time you encounter this debacle, it might be wise to look for a pair of tongs?  

It's a lot more simple than you may think. An America's Test Kitchen Instagram post complete with handy graphics notes that you merely "sandwich the top of the bottle inside the handle, and you can gently pop the cap off." 

Clearly, this approach is in good company since others are following it; however, they also take the liberty to use it for other household tasks. Today notes this menial kitchen duty that tongs can do easily: juice citrus fruits by treating the closed-together prongs as a reamer. After slicing the fruit, the force of the tongs will allow you to get more juice than if you were to just squeeze the halves by hand.   

Kitchen tongs can help hold a small colander that is too hot to hold, prop open recipe cards or magazines to improve ease of reading while cooking, and perfectly grasp paper towels to grease your grill without a mess (via Reader's Digest Canada). The options are never-ending. 

Next time, don't start by drinking your beer wrong by opening it the hard way. Tongs are where it's at. You'll be thrilled not to traipse all over the house to find a long-lost bottle opener anymore. Cheers to that!