The Genius Way Alton Brown Uses Binder Clips In The Kitchen

Every cook needs their go-to kitchen tools and then some; From food processors to air fryers to pan sheets and spatulas, there is plenty of gear to fill your drawers and cabinets. But sometimes kitchen tools can be common, everyday tools that have uses outside the culinary world. Per Washington Post, if you need to cut pastry dough in a straight line, a ruler can help you do the job. Don't have a nutcracker? Use the same tool you use to pound nails into the wall: a hammer. 

If you've ever had to fish out a piece of eggshell after cracking eggs into a bowl, Serious Eats notes a pair of tweezers come in handy, while Bon Appetit is quick to laud the virtues of dental floss. They explain that if you want to get the thickness of your cheese slices just right, that string you use to get food out from between your teeth can do the trick. 

As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, and when it comes to binder clips, Alton Brown has a genius way of using this tool.

According to Alton Brown's book "EveryDayCook," via Food52, binder clips are for more than just holding together all those sheets of paper from the novel you are writing; Brown's secret trick for this office tool actually involves a thermometer. The "Good Eats" host uses heavy-duty binder clips to keep his thermometer fastened to a side of a pot when he is cooking. Of course, as a member of the Reddit community notes, make certain they are not of the plastic variety or they might melt. Brown also uses binder clips to keep those foil packets containing veggies and proteins sealed tight while they bake in the oven.  

Additionally, the Washington Post recommends forgoing spending money on chip clips that break in a month and instead using a binder clip to do the job. They also note they are great to use if you have an unwieldy cookbook that's binding is so stiff it won't stay open. Simply take a binder clip and fasten it to the cover and the page you are reading.