Why Chefs Use Black Gloves for Meat 

Which level of meat mastery do you think you’re on? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XWpFHgTD3RE.html

Personally, I use black gloves while cooking because those are the ones i steal from work

The reason we use blue gloves as well as blue bandaids and paper roll, is because is a color you rarely see in food and if by chance any of it falls in the food is highly visible and can be removed.

When you see the black gloves. "How did you know the burger is going to be 35bucks?"

Blue gloves are mandated in meat processing in Australia as you can see it easily if part of the glove ends up in the food. And they are/should be nitril gloves as they are the least reactive material for disposable gloves. We also wore the cotton gloves under our nitrile gloves when working with blast frozen products.

Black gloves also give a greater impression of cleanliness as meat juices, rubs, & marinades won’t stain them as noticeably as clear or blue gloves.

“There’s a good chance she’s got cotton gloves on underneath” as a female bbqer that made me smile, Thankyou.

black gloves are clearly more tactical and allow for more efficient butchery. ok for real as someone who works in a kitchen, black gloves are only used if the customer is going to see the food being made, because social media says its cooler and more professional. if not, the cheapest transparent blue or clear plastic gloves available are the way they roll.

“Like it isn’t the most unnatural pairing in the store” Nah… I’m pretty sure plastic and fish are a modern day match made in hell. I can tell the fish is fresh because of the micro plastics still clinging to the scales! Delicious!

When I was a pit master my restaurant did not supply cotton gloves, we would just wear 3-4 black gloves layered on at a time. All this does is create a small delay and the heat retention of the gloves meant that this terrifying hand trap would reach burning temperatures and STAY burning temperatures for much longer if you handled the ribs for too long. If anyone works at a place like this please demand they get cotton gloves, every restaurant supply carries them in bulk for cheap.

The fact that one of the reasons black gloves are preferred is because they look better actually makes a lot of sense. Just like having all your ingredients in neat little glass bowls and plating the food nicely doesn't really change the taste of the dish, but it just looks more professional and gives you the feeling that you are getting some really good food.

Based papa Shaq explaining thing under one minute instead of 15 minute video essay sponsored by World of Warships

In Australia nearly everything is blue, we use blue gloves when handling raw meat, plastic packaging for meat is also blue, cooler containers are blue when cold and white when they heat up and bandaids and some hairnets are blue too. It's because there aren't naturally occurring blue foods so it's the most noticeable colour for food contamination.

That plate is gorgeous. Seems like all those pottery classes paid off!

If you see the pit master wearing black gloves you KNOW you boutta pay $28 for two slices of brisket

No Shaq, I did not know these facts.

As a long time butcher myself- We be using whatever we have on hand edit: no, the pun WAS intended

As someone who worked long periods in a science lab, wearing gloves, I think the cotton liners are MUCH more likely to be used for the reason I used them- stopping sweat from making the gloves a swimming pool for your hands.

I use those cut-proof gloves underneath my nitrile gloves when I bbq. Cuts the heat and on one occasion they did save me from a nasty slice via my super sharp boning knife. You might never need em... until you do.

Cotton gloves underneath is just genius. Makes me want to buy a pair and shred some pork!

The video description says “Why do CHEFS wear black gloves?” And then proceeds to not answer the question at all

the most shocking thing from this whole video, was learning in america you guys have different coloured packaging for different meat products, in australia is all either black plastic or clear plastic, be it beef, chicken, or fish.

Me rewatching Hell's Kitchen seeing Gordon Ramsay never once wears a pair of gloves

Understated benefit from wearing cotton gloves underneath the Nitrile, from a person who used to professionally use them: wicking away moisture off your hands. No sticking when replacing gloves.

Nitrile gloves are non-reactive, don't trigger latex allergies and are usually powder free so you're not adding weird chemical flavours to your food. I just use them in my woodworking, but for useful purposes, they run the gamut.

My food and safety professor said he prefers people not to wear gloves he gave an explanation but I forgot why

Yknow my favorite part of the video, is at the end when the sandwich is put together and you bend to take a bite. You can see your food belly and I genuinely appreciate this. Kinda gives that my food is good I have tons of reference vibes. When I get something to eat and everyone is a toothpic it makes me second guess where I’m eating.

Fish and plastic is a pretty natural combination nowadays

It's amazing how many internet shaq takes I disagree with yet I still absolutely love him

Everyone: talking about gloves Me: I could really go for that last burger!

One thing I noticed is that it also makes handling meat seem cleaner on camera. Even if the host of the show washes their hands constantly, you'll never see it, so having the gloves on is an effective way to communicate cleanliness.

I could have done with this video 3 days ago.... also nice plate!

i'm a chef, so i'll clarify a few things- - those cotton gloves he mentioned? those are what we call cut gloves, because, well, they're cut resistant m. they're awesome. basically if you're cutting something, you'll wanna wear a cut glove on your non-dominant hand so you don't accidentally cut yourself. also they're fairly heat-resistant so it helps when handling meats that are fresh out of the oven/pit/grill/whatever. i'll double up and wear one on each hand if i really don't feel like burning myself, but please keep in mind, they are NOT a substitute for actual oven mitts because they can still get super fucking hot if you're not careful. also, you should wear a disposable glove on top of the cut glove, so the juice from the meat doesn't bleed through and burn the shit out of your hand. - the color of the gloves doesn't mean jack shit. does the black look better? yeah, ofc. but there are so many colors of gloves, and they often have no meaning. i've used purple, clear, black, green, blue, etc. the material is what's most important, and my favorites are nitrile and vinyl. whatever you do, don't use the powdered latex gloves. i have no history of latex allergy but for whatever reason, the powdered latex gloves fucked up my skin SO bad. my hands were red, my skin was cracked and bleeding... it was just the worst. most importantly, always wear gloves when preparing raw meat, and change your gloves frequently. you'll know it's worth it when your green beans don't have salmonella all over them.

"If you see a pitmaster wearing these, there's a good chance SHE'S got-" Shaq been blending his veggies with his Respect Women juice

The food color tray is actually to quickly identify what it is Green: Mostly used for fruit or produce of any type. Yellow: Mainly used for chicken. Red: Primarily used for pork or red meat products. Blue: Traditionally used for seafood products such as fish and crab cakes. Black: Used for each type of food, but mostly higher end cuts of red meat. White: Also used for each type of food, specifically regular cuts of meat

I can do all the things he said without gloves, just lazy when your in your own house, gloves are for making huge amounts of food where you can’t be cleaning hands every 5 mins

I didn't notice the nubs before you pointed them out now I can't unsee them.

So, the answer to the question is, "Maybe they use black because blue would look weird"?

The foam package color coding is a food safety thing. When you make a rack of meat to be kept in a refrigerator there is a vertical order based on risk that is supposed to be placed in to reduce the chance of contamination if the package drips. Beef on top, middle is pork and bottom is poultry. Fish gets its own rack with shellfish being on top in ice. The color coding is so you can quickly see that something is in the wrong place.

Im sorry Mr Shaquille but black gloves make no sense for the home cook. Unless youre a chef working in a fancy restaurant, it takes 12.8 seconds to put on a pair of gloves, and only 8 minutes to rinse off my hands after burning them with hot meat. Those kinds of efficiencies are not beneficial for the home cook, and besides, when my kids come running in and get within 15 feet of my dangerous gas stove, I need my hands free to push them down forcefully to the ground. Dont worry though, I'll have an induction stove soon. good thing because the last time, my wife came in shocked and I had to ask her "oh you want some too?"

Cotton+plastic gloves is an unmatched combo. I used to work in a charcuterie plant. Newly slaughtered pigs would arrive each morning and we’d break them down into chops, ribs, loins and all that, the rest was used for sausages. I was at the sausage line. Not only are the gloves good for avoiding contamination, but these factories are also full of water, literally. We’d often get some ground pork on our aprons, and just spray it off with water. The machines are also usually sprayed down every few minutes. Kinda nice not getting your hands wet by using gloves. These plants are also very cold because of food safety reasons, so the cotton layer really keeps your hands insulated and warm, while also protecting us when moving bacon and sausages in and out of the very hot smokers. The best part of the job was taste testing everything that came out of the smoker.

i use that combo to cut frozen meat. i thought i was special when i figured it, i guess not.

i work in a kitchen. i consistently begin your youtube shorts as i begin most, expecting to gain nothing, mentally or spiritually. every time, you teach me something brand new

Man I was asking myself this question for years and now someone finally made a video just to explain it.

I never thought about the surgical look of blue gloves until now. Totally different stomach churning vibes!😂

So literally just aesthetics

The back ones are way way thicker generally than the blue ones, so are heat proof to an extent not to mention many times the cost of blue gloves. Wearing several layers of blue will give the same effect. Dexterity is less with the black ones too so many chefs dont use them. The most important fact that everyone seems to be missing is that we don't have blue food; if a piece gets cut off (happens all the time) then it is easily found, unlike other colours, so black is generally banned where knives are used.

I’m a little boss and I can tell you first hand the cotton gloves are a godsend. They protect from just about anything and have incredible levels of comfort. This also includes cuts. You could use a hacksaw on those things and you won’t even feel it.

I used to use 'em to knead really sticky pizza dough, until I learned I could just wet my hands and do it that way.

After working in multiple restaurants and BBQ spots, I can tell you in my opinion it's more of a brand thing. I've noticed that the blue and white nitrile gloves always seem to be the cheaper kind that are just a hair too small and also rip if you aren't gentle with them. Finally, the gloves showing in the video are the super expensive 'texturrd gloves' that have little bumps all over the outside the makes it easier to grip wet, slippery things like meat.

Ahh, “content creators”- needlessly stretching out really simple bits of information into long-winded explanations. All that word salad just to say, yeah, it’s purely aesthetics

I used to work in a pizza packaging factory. We were allowed to use only blue gloves and blue band-aids (if you had an injury) because blue is a strong contrast color against most food if it ever rips off and ends up on the food it can be easily spotted and removed. Black gloves if ripped will match charred parts of food and difficult to spot, white can match cheeses or bread.

“If you see a pit master wearing these, good chance she has cotton gloves underneath” how very PC of you but there’s a better chance that she’s a he and that there aren’t a ton of female pit masters. Good lord

Bro, this is some solid-ass engineer content right there.

I worked at a meat factory for 5 years, and we always used cotton gloves under blue "surgical-style" plastic gloves. They insulated against cooked and frozen meat, which we would often handle for hours at a time. They were also very comfortable, and provided a basic protection against blades. 2 times I cut myself with a very sharp knife, I would probably have lost my finger if it wasn't for the double glove combo.

This is the kind of content the world needs more of

I work at a chicken debone and processing plant. We use that cotton glove under a rubber glove combo to allow use to work with very cold, raw chicken meat for extended periods of time.

Another reason to wear cotton gloves under the vinyl ones is to stop sweat dripping into the food. I worked in a bakery and wore clear translucent vinyl gloves (color doesn't matter, just the vinyl material) to portion pies and cakes for packaging. After ten minutes, my hands would be awash in sweat inside the gloves, enough to spill out of the cuffs.

I've never seen a restaurant use different color gloves for different foods but it makes sense for the camera, 9 times out of 10 for the normal cook it's a matter of aesthetic

Such a thoughtful young man

The blue in gloves helps in situations where part of the glove breaks off you can easily identify it in food and take it out or throw the food away. Also the reason why band-aids in kitchens are blue

Blue gloves are used for the same reason blue bandaids are used in kitchens. Blue is easy to spot in food if a glove or bandaid gets cut and somehow manages it’s way into the food it will be easy to spot and see.

Here I was thinking it had something to do with a contrasting colour to help avoid cutting your fingers. Just learned something new.

Black or blue also has the benefit of color if a piece of the glove comes off in the food. The white or clear gloves blend into the food your preparing.

Nitrile gloves also come in black. More resistant than either Latex or Vinyl, correspondingly more expensive. Never use vinyl for things with oil, it will leak right through. Latex is best for general purpose use.

Let me speak to you all as someone who did butchery for 5 years. I started in an artisan meat shop with a very good mentor, but I also did work in several industrial butcher shops as well. Credentials out of the way, I personally cannot stand wearing gloves of any kind while handling meat, with the exception of cotton under plastic for hot stuff. I was trained to keep some nails on my hand, and that will offer better grip and articulation than any glove. I've been forced to wear gloves as some companies policy, but it slowed me down so much I couldn't keep up otherwise. With nails, you can dig into very specific parts of the meat, namely along muscle seams where you need to pull back while cutting connective tissue. In the artisan shop, our cutting counter was in plain view of the customers, and nobody ever batted an eye. It's also not against safety regulations. I've cut myself dozens more times with various gloves on compared to not, which was once. I did stab my thumb on two occasions while steeling, and a real pretty girl walked in. Same situation for both...a stab to one bone will kill the other, if you catch my meaning. Bottom line: gloves are too bulky for me, does anyone else cut without gloves? PS I didn't go to school for it, I was apprenticed by the artisan. He scoffed at school educated meat cutters.

The cotton also helps with moisture. Those black or blue gloves typically cause hands to perspire.

"Little nubs" idk why but made me giggle

Black nitrile exam gloves tend to be thicker than other colors (especially knight brand) and are usually recommended for use where mechanical toughness is important (big part of why mechanics usually use the black ones). The cotton glove liners allow quick swapping for fresh gloves. Without them, sweat makes it extremely difficult to get the fresh ones on.

I just already preferred the black gloves but since leaving the restaurant business years ago I just do not buy them myself often.

As a mechanic those gloves specifically, are fucking great.

also the color black is good if you want to draw attention toward something completely different, as black will inherently never be the brightest color in frame, it allows the audience to focus more on the brighter white, pink, red, and browns of the meat

Half the benefits you stated don’t even require “black” gloves

In the UK meat and fish are usually just sold on transparent plastic but white meat like chicken usually has a little white liquid absorbing mat while red meat and fish have one that’s black or dark grey and sometimes even dark green if it’s supposed to be like organic free range steak or something

I thought the title said cloves at first and wondered if there was some mystery ingredient I'd never heard of

When you feel like you asked a stupid question and got a big brain answer

Could also be a common identifier or byproduct of the different materials being used. Maybe black gloves offer some improvements in that area as they're usually more expensive than the blue, white or transparent ones. So put simply, they're probably better but more costly, someone in the medical field is constantly changing them, so they'd have to be cheap.

Ya, they come in all kinds of colors. The black ones are hot right now, so they're rather expensive, but you can buy mechanic gloves that do exactly the same thing except they're orange. They have a cross hatch pattern on them for grip aswell. They make red ones that are meant for hazardous waste and purple ones you can buy in a massive bag for dirt cheep. Red and purple are not textured.

I was waiting on him saying it might also be easier identifying your fingers amongst the meat while cutting, then i realised what time it is and I’m going bed

When I was in a kitchen the black gloves held up to heat better than the blue and clear ones. Also makes it more noticeable when a glove has been punctured or broken

It makes the juices shine and contrast

Use blue gloves because you can clearly see it if somehow a glove piece got in the grub, as foods aren’t n as naturally blue. Blue bandages too.

Blue is not sea it's the kitchen colour for fish cutting tables. Like red is for meat and yellow is for warm products and green is for vegetables. It's used in professional kitchens to avoid cross contamination

That sandwich looked amazing!

Line cook here. I know in most restaurants, there are a variety of glove types for people's allergies. Nitrile gloves are usually black and are great if you are allergic to latex and vinyl.

I feel like wearing black gloves when you're cutting raw meat also helps you notice a cut or tear in the glove easier because of the contrast with your skin

Nitrile gloves usually come in blue, orange and black. They won’t transfer latex onto food and aren’t powdered. People usually buy the black ones because they don’t look medical

I'm so excited to see some food workers actually do protect their hands from burns instead of just making damaging your hands by only wearing the thin plastic to handle boiling or burning items a standard tactic

Those black grip nitrile gloves are 🔥 theyre so tough for rubber gloves and actually are pretty grippy. I get em from U Line.

You just speculated further without actually giving us a definitive reason

That bite was 24k Gold 😂

I can't believe I was on the wrong side... I am on white gloves.

I’d figured black gloves look better on camera, shows the contrast

No one else gonna mention he just slapped like 1/3 of a head of lettuce on that bad boy?😂😂😂😂😂

In the dealership car detailing business, my crew used black gloves. It was more aesthetically pleasing with our grey uniforms, and we got more out of our gloves without visibly appearing messy. The smudges and grime our gloves come into contact with don't track onto other surfaces like one would assume if you saw it on blue gloves.

I work as a butcher and we wear these black gloves because the meat/chickens bloods slime and whatever else you’re touching doesn’t stick on the gloves and they also have grip even if it’s covered with blood

I like nitrile gloves because they're the most comfortable to wear and they form to your fingers the best ("fits like a glove"). They're $10+ per box though, so only a fancy restaurant will have their meat handlers (hur hur) using them since they have to change gloves so often. In food service we prefer black nitrile because it doesn't show stains.

It also provides great contrast.

Restaurants use the light blue because if a small piece rips and falls into the food you can see it better. Depending on the dish black would likely be harder to see. They sure do look cool tho

I used to have to wear gloves while cooking all the time and those black ones with the nubs are s tier