I have collected kitchen gadgets for many years. My family and friends used to find it easy to buy me birthday and Christmas presents, more or less anything from a kitchenware department would do. Naturally, as the years have passed, my cupboards have filled and the chances of them finding anything I don't already own have diminished. The MM came up trumps at Christmas with this one, though.The only problem is we don't know what it is!
It looks like a wooden spoon but it has a hole in the middle.
Am I missing the obvious? Would it produce lighter cake batter than a regular wooden spoon? Or could it be for measuring spaghetti portions? Perhaps it isn't a kitchen gadget at all.
If you know what it is for, or if you can think of a (printable) use for it, please let me know. The sender of the best answer, as judged my the MM and me, may choose any paperback book from my library, as shown in my LibraryThing.
M - it's for stirring sauces, I believe. Especially ones you have to be very careful with, like egg custard or lemon curd. I have one as well, and that's what I use it for. Probably because that's what my mother told me it was for when she gave it to me!
ReplyDeleteBut I may have been missing the point all these years - perhaps you're right and it was designed for some far more exotic (or non-kitchen!?!) purpose . . . the mind boggles.
I look forward to seeing what other people come up with.
Thank you, J, that sounds very sensible. I can't think why my mother didn't have one. I shall blame her, retrospectively for all those overbeaten sauces and curdled curds!
ReplyDeleteNow over to the exotic purposes!
How is that much different than this, except somewhat more crudely constructed? An addition use is to pull solid objects from soups / sauces without damage (as you might get with a fork).
ReplyDeleteaog, The bowl of the spoon is too shallow to scoop anything and the hole is more than an inch in diameter, so it couldn't substitute for a slotted spoon. My initial impression was that it was for something that needed to be handled more gently than with a regular wooden spoon, so Juliet's suggestion for sauce mixing is probably correct. I was just hoping for something a little less mundane!
ReplyDeleteDa-Daaaaa! http://www.goodcookshop.com/froogle.do?id=686
ReplyDeleteI rest my case, m'lud.
Well done, J. Mystery solved. Now how about that book? If there is nothing that takes your fancy, I have rather a special contribution for your Christmas books box which isn't in my library list. You can choose from all of the paperbacks except 'Looking for George' - that shouldn't have been catalogued as I borrowed it from D!
ReplyDeleteEmail me. M
And here are some other suggestions plucked at random from all over the place . . . wooden spoons with holes in the middle are for stopping splashes from hot liquids (ie the hot liquid drains into the saucepan not on to you - mmm, still thinking about that one), for beating eggs and even for measuring pasta servings.
ReplyDeleteSo there you go, some more bits of random - and in this case probably useless - information.
Happy stirring.
Thanks, D, especially for confirming the spoon's usefulness for measuring pasta. The MM sneered at my suggesting that. Now I shall make him eat his words, after I've had an explanation of why he only spent 85p on my Christmas present!
ReplyDeleteLoath as I am to admit to even a cursory knowledge of the culinary, I believe the wooden spoon with a hole in the middle is useful when you stir thick or heavy sauces and soups. It helps to avoids slopping over the side of the pot should your stirring become vigorous. I myself, use wooden spoons with thin slots originally designed for some other arcane purpose, but which works better than the single holey spoon for me and my protégé.
ReplyDeleteThank you, e. I've had some of the spoons you picture for years without knowing they had a specific (even scientific) purpose! That is what comes of being a self-taught cook. The books give recipes and methods but omit these important details.
ReplyDeletem. You're clever to know that I had scientific cooking training, but only through the undergraduate level. I believe spoons were covered in graduate school, but my scholarship didn't cover that.
ReplyDeleteGo here for smaller picture of the magic spoons.
I see you must be a secret professional cook, e, since you have TWO slotted spoons!
ReplyDeleteOne for each hand, m'luv. Us pros keep lots of pots stirring.
ReplyDeleteSorry to be late to the game, but I believe Juliet's answer is wrong. It is obviously an advanced prototype of a food catapult. We are all familiar with the spoon's usefulness in flinging peas and mashed potatoes, and many a food fight was won with your standard, off the rack spoon. But advanced engineering studies in the 1930s proved that by cutting a hole in the broad part of the bowl, air resistance was decreased, and the spoon head could achieve a higher velocity upon release, thereby imparting increased kinetic energy and range to the projectile.
ReplyDeleteHowever, a little known provision of the Geneva Convention outlawed the perforated spoon catapult due to the increased number of serious casualties experienced by public school children, particularly eye wounds from peas. Production of these models were ended in 1947.
The MM obviously has a secret, checkered past as a dining hall guerilla.
duck: I was hoping there was a less prosaic use for this than as a mere sauce stirrer. I'm so glad you dropped by with the true explanation! I have now hidden the catapult in case the MM decides to use it to decorate the dining room walls.
ReplyDeleteI haven't got round to adding much to my LibraryThing yet but if there is something there that you would like, let me know. Your answer certainly deserves a prize.
I get a prize? Wow, this year really is shaping up quite nicely!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your generous offer! I've perused your lengthy library, and as I am a non-fiction buff while you are a fictionado, the pickings were a little on the slim side. I do fancy your history/biography of William Wallace, though.
Duck, I keep fiction for bedtime reading so those books are upstairs and closer to my PC. I'll get around to adding my non-fiction some time soon. But I'm glad you found one you might like. You'll have to email me with details for me to send it to you.
ReplyDelete#1 Google search result for "spoon with hole in middle". Now I know!
ReplyDeleteWe were just wondering why we got a set of wooden spoons and one had a round hole in it. Not sure what it was for. The sauce response and the non splash of sauces is a great idea
ReplyDelete