which spoon do you use most in the kitchen

[robin wood]

I am always looking for good spoon designs and, like knives, if a spoon gets used a lot its normally because it does the job well. So if you have a spoon which you use a lot whether its one you made, a hand carved one you bought from someone else or a machine produced one i would be interested to see a picture of it.

Here are the two that get most use in our kitchen. The first three pictures are of a spoon that I bought from Ion Constantin a 70 year old Romanian Gypsy spooncarver over 10 years ago. It is poplar which is a soft wood but it has had a lot of hard use and abuse and survived. he makes these in about 10 minutes flat. Stuart King who I travelled with has put a bit of video of him working on youtube here

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=D7yipq2xd7o

After a few years use and carving many spoons myself I began to feel the Romanian design could be improved, this is one of ours made from rowan. It is not the prettiest spoon we ever made but it works very well. i like the flat rather than pointed end which lets you scrape the pan and the slight angle rather than cut straight across the end makes it much more comfortable to stir with.

 

[John Fenna]

I like the look of your Rowan spoon - a "spatuspoon"?
It is interesting that the most used, bog standard, machine made, woolies bought, wooden spoon in our kitchen draw has adopted this kind of shaping from 3 decades of use....
I may try carving one.......

 

[Burnt Ash]

Spoon carvers!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!

Burnt Ash

 

[DoctorSpoon]

Spoon carvers!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!

Burnt Ash

wot's wrong? ... well ok maybe it gets a bit obsessive

 

[Burnt Ash]

Sorry! It's a personal thing: an allergy I think. Along with fish badges on the backs of motor cars, homeopathy and headless chickens.

Burnt Ash

 

[commandocal]

i use a metal one, wooden handle and it is made especially for soup, WOODEN SPOON MAN? are you crazy! we are living in the iron age now!

 

[DoctorSpoon]

i use a metal one, wooden handle and it is made especially for soup, WOODEN SPOON MAN? are you crazy! we are living in the iron age now!

... errrr ... we're talking about cooking not reheating mate!! you can't cook properly with a metal spoon - can you?

 

[woodstock]

Sorry! It's a personal thing: an allergy I think. Along with fish badges on the backs of motor cars, homeopathy and headless chickens.

Burnt Ash

What is the significances of those fish symbols its puzzled me for ages

 

[robin wood]

Fishy badges mean "I go to church on Sunday" or maybe just "I am a practising Christian" or at least that's what I think they mean...maybe we should ask next time we see someone getting out of one. By the way Woodstock now I have solved that little mystery for you what spoon do you use?

 

[Rebel]

The fish symbol is icthus. It refers to a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish, said to have been used by early Christians as a secret symbol during the times when being a Christian could be punishable by death (or worse).

Now it is used as a discreet symbol to let other Christians know that you too are a Christian. Quite funny (I guess) when a Muslim woman in a head scarf is driving a used car that was previously owned by a Christian and it still has the symbol on it (yes I see it often).

Anyway wooden spoons are great and the best for cooking. Metal spoons break up your ingredients but wood doesn't. The handle doesn't conduct heat and wood won't damage your pan.

Thing is they are dirt cheap in Ikea and supermarkets so I tend to buy mine for peanuts and chuck them out when they start to look tatty. I always treat them with mineral or olive oil before the first use and try to avoid soaking them for long periods in the dishwater.

 

[decorum]

I've yet to find a mass produced wooden spoon that I really enjoy cooking with and so far I've been unable to stop myself totalling the ones I've tried to carve.

And for the fish symbol:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_symb.htm

 

[British Red]

Actualy Robin my problem is always spatulas (or rather Bushbaby's is). We cook a lot (and I do mean a ot) of "from scratch" Chinese, Mexican and Indian food and a good spatula is worth its weight in gold! (Just ask those who have had BB's lemon chicken and pilau rice cooked over a fire at a small meet what proper cooking is worth ). I think others are stil recovering from my enchiladas with dry fried tortillas so perhaps we best not go there (clears the sinus that Sinex cannot reach). Either way - a really good spatula maker is easier to find than a bloke wot knocks up a quick grail!

Red

 

[hanzo]

I've yet to find a mass produced wooden spoon that I really enjoy cooking with and so far I've been unable to stop myself totalling the ones I've tried to carve.

And for the fish symbol:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_symb.htm

Try the ones made of bamboo. Those are great and can be had in various sizes. If I didn't have to carry my daughter, who had fallen asleep on our rest stop coming back from out hike, I would have harvested some of the bamboo I cleared off the trail a couple of years ago.

The bamboo in that particular grove are pretty huge. They are almost as thick around as my thigh and have grown at least 50 feet tall. I can't bring myself to cut one down just for personal use. Plus, bamboo that size is pretty heavy and unwieldy. Harvesting one of them would mean cutting it into manageable lengths and making more than one trip to bring it down the hill.

Anyway, I just like bamboo. And I use a bamboo spoon for cooking. And I really can't wait to get my Bark River Golok with bamboo handles!

 

[Toddy]

My dad carved me a spurtle when I got married andit'sthe most useful thing for stirring a pot. Most of the modern ones are turned, but mine's the older style with a small asymetrical flat end.
I'll post a photo tomorrow since everyone's asleep just now.

cheers,
Toddy

p.s. a link....this is mince, I'm from Lanarkshire and we call it a spurtle here, they got the older style right though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurtle
atb,
M

 

[weaver]

really good spatula

Right, check!

 

[British Red]

Now that Weaver has looked in Robin I can also share my favourite spoon

This is my "one spoon does everything" when out and about and has certain key features that I love

It has a long enough handle and small enough bowl! Key to stirring a billy can and actually getting into the corners etc. without burning fingers etc. over the camp fire. Most wooden spoons jave too large a bowl for my taste - this is about dessert spoon sized which makes it ideal for measuring coffee grounds etc.

The ridge on the "shaft" prevents the spoon sliding into the Dutch Oven (it can be rested on the edge of the rim)

The turned end affords a comfortable grip on what is a narrow shaft. The shaft needs to be narrow as the whole spoon gets used, for example, to get at a stew inside a thermos flask

There is a hole at the end of the shaft so the spoon can be slung on a cord as a "racing spoon"

The uber talented Weaver kindly made this for me after a long discussion thread on what is wrong with most spoons

Red

 

[nicodiemus]

One spoon to bring them all...

I use a plastic coated metal spoon, or cheap plastic spatulas. I used to work in a kitchen where wooden tools were all but forbidden. Even chopping blocks. Old habits die hard.

 

[John Fenna]

As far as my camp kitchen goes I use a mixture of spoons about equally, plus a spatula.
The photos are not brill but my camera is charging at the moment so I am working from what I have in my library...

Current eating tools

This picture includes my Hazel spatula and a selection of spoons that see regular use.

This is a shot of the things I made for Leon B for the Xmas Brantub. The spatula is of sesoned Oak(very hard work!) but to my usual pattern - identicle in shape to one (in Hazel) I use at home.
I understand that the Fishy thing on the back of cars is a symbol derived from a diagram of two circles representing the two sphere of existance - Spiritual and Material - the intersection being where man stands in the great scheme of things. Adopted as a covert symbol by the early Christians the abreviated symbol also refers to Christ - the Fisher of Men!
Now the symbol is largely used by "born again" Christians.
Not being a Christian myself it apears a little strange to my eyes (why use a covert symbol when Christianity is no longer a banned religion?) as Christianity has easily recognisable symbols, although I can understand an image of cruel torture may not fit with some peoples sensibilities.
If Homeopathy is laughable, how come it works on animals?
Headless chickens look tastier on a plate than ones still looking at you....
Burnt Ash - do you make any of your kit yourself?
I find a great deal of pleasure using an implement I have designed and made myself and I find it offends fewer folk than just making disparaging comments of other folks interests.

 

[JohnC]

The spoons I use most in the kitchen, and a pen that happened to be there this morning..
I looked at some of Robins wodwares on his site, and like the idea of wooden plates, but that may be for later in the year


(...On the fish issue, I believe the earliest symbol was a more "real looking" fish, and the two line one came along later.
http://www.plymouth-church.com/ichthus.html )

 

[John Fenna]

Nice pen! :sad6:
But nicer spoons! What woods are they?