Unless you have an insatiable love of champagne, it’s likely you only have it once a year or so. Like most people, once you “pop” the bottle open, you probably give the cork a toss. A little advice: Stop doing that. It turns out that the cork is a tool we didn’t know we needed. Instead of using a kitchen towel or pot holder to grab the hot metal lid of a sauce pan or other pot, just wedge a champagne cork under the handle. The cork acts as an insulator, allowing you to lift the lid without burning your fingers. Before you go wondering if you can use the cork from a wine bottle, think again. Wine corks are just too thin and don’t wedge well or stay put under the handle. You may be questioning why cookware companies just don’t make handles out of cork. Well, until that’s all sorted out, you’ll just have to resort to using a champagne cork. Don’t have one? There’s a good reason to head to the liquor store. Then you can celebrate the new addition to your kitchen tools arsenal.
