View Full Version : which spoon do you use most in the kitchen
robin wood
03-01-2008, 16:53
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
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/romanian-spoon1e.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/romanian-spoon2e.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/romanian-spoon.jpg
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.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/rowan-spoone.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/rowan-spoon2e.jpg
John Fenna
03-01-2008, 16:58
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
03-01-2008, 17:11
Spoon carvers!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!
Burnt Ash
DoctorSpoon
03-01-2008, 18:14
Spoon carvers!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!
Burnt Ash
wot's wrong? ... well ok maybe it gets a bit obsessive :rolleyes:
Burnt Ash
03-01-2008, 21:55
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
03-01-2008, 21:58
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
03-01-2008, 22:11
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!! :rolleyes: you can't cook properly with a metal spoon - can you?
woodstock
03-01-2008, 22:34
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:confused:
robin wood
03-01-2008, 22:44
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?
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.
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
03-01-2008, 23:23
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
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!
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
really good spatula
Right, check!
British Red
04-01-2008, 05:26
:D
Now that Weaver has looked in Robin I can also share my favourite spoon
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/964/medium/BRspoonburn.jpg
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 :o
Red
nicodiemus
04-01-2008, 09:03
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
04-01-2008, 09:36
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...
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u142/johnfenna/Sporkandfoon.jpg
Current eating tools
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u142/johnfenna/Bushcraftbits.jpg
This picture includes my Hazel spatula and a selection of spoons that see regular use.
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u142/johnfenna/Leonsprezzie.jpg
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.
:D
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f278/Johnnyvariety/spoons.jpg
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 :rolleyes:
(...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
04-01-2008, 10:05
Nice pen!:D :sad6:
But nicer spoons! What woods are they?
Thank you! The larger is oak ( i think) & the smaller is sycamore (again, i think) both got dipped in tung oil.
British Red
04-01-2008, 10:30
Thats a nice spatula design John - just needs to be a little flatter with a slightly narrower blade (and stained with soy and garlic for a few years :))
Red
John Fenna
04-01-2008, 10:53
My spatulas are mainly used for flipping bannock/ eggs bacon etc - if you felt the weight of my bannock you would see why it is so wide! It makes seving fried eggs/patties easier as well.
My diet is sooooo healthy!
The pickies were taken when the spats were new - the Hazel ones are well stained now!
I am thinking of making a pallet knife type kitchen tool but am finding the choice of wood difficult - strength/flexibility wise - but Toddys stick looks interesting, as does Robbins spoontula....
British Red
04-01-2008, 11:06
I do like the spoontula for cooking I must admit - a very handy thing indeed.
I think I have one of Toddy's things. We use it for planting bulbs :)
Red
Burnt Ash
04-01-2008, 11:13
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).
But why are the fish people always such CRAP drivers? Punishable by death (or worse) seems about right to me.
Burnt Ash
DoctorSpoon
04-01-2008, 11:49
I think I have one of Toddy's things. We use it for planting bulbs :)
:lmao:
Seriously though, a spurtle is great for stirring liquids without splashing. When the kids were little and liked to stand at the stove and 'help' I'd always give them a spurtle to stir with so they could be as vigourous as they liked without endangering themselves or me!
robin wood
04-01-2008, 19:49
Thanks for the responses and particularly thanks for posting pics.
Red I like your Weaver spoon and love the ripple grain. I have been working some similar wood myself recently.
In our home we have a lot of very nice spoons that I admire from rough country made spoons from Romania, Morocco and Turkey to fine designs from Sweden, Hungary and Holland. We have a lot of very nice serving spoons and like Red we like cooking with spatulas or the Romanian spoon. problem is that makes 2 to wash up. I think we often use the "spoontula" because it is a very good cooking spoon but will also just about pass as a serving spoon too.
I don't think there is a perfect fit all spoon no more than there is a perfect knife...depends what you cook, how you cook it, and the pans you use.
"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"
So Red is BB cooking in a wok? or deep pan? If you wanted to sketch or describe your perfect spatula I would be happy to try to make it. Or after the weekend (logging tomorrow and walking on Kinder Scout Sunday) I could post pictures of a range of spatulas and we could talk through features that may suit BB and your food and pans.
British Red
04-01-2008, 20:07
That would be grand! I confess I was going to try to chat up Weaver for one or two since we do wear them out but I'm always embarassed to impose on the man since its such a long way to post things! I had to try to find an old picture of my spoon since the bowl is much darker now that its stirred so many stews and coffee pots :o
I'd love to see what you do as standard and will ask BB for her feedback - its generally a combination of thinks although a Wok is the most frequent pan - but also a dutch oven, billy and conventional frying pans!
Red
But why are the fish people always such CRAP drivers? Punishable by death (or worse) seems about right to me.
Burnt Ash
I don't think they are worse than other drivers, at least I haven't noticed them to be so and I was a white van man in London so I've seen the worst of British driving. Maybe they drive too slow for you. ;) Now BMW drivers, motorbike couriers, boy racers and London cab drivers, they're bad. :D
John Fenna
04-01-2008, 20:31
Welsh pensioners and boy racers are the worst!
Oh eck - my wife draws apension now!
mr dazzler
04-01-2008, 23:23
You havent come across the grandad racersthen john?:lmao:
Interesting thread. I for one love carving spoons and ladle's I've done about 12 or 13 so far these last few weeks, I was inspired by the welsh designs on the ceredigion web site, cawl spoon's, ladle's, dairy bowl's etc. A spoon is a complex form and its difficult to do one that A/ looks good and B/ works well. Its easy to mess up what was starting off as a promising form, especially the blending of handle and bowl. Doing them is a good way to learn how to read wood structure and use the axe/knife's etc to succesfully define a decent form within that strucure. I find the classic 1/2 egg shaped bowl with a slightly curved handle at an angle of about 7 to 10 degree's to the bowl works good.
Heres my latest version's, the largest one's bowl is about 4 inche's long, the smallest is about 1 1/2 inche's, most of these are are poor, the small one is not too bad, but the tip of the bowl should of been lower and a nicer bend in the handle. They are at various stages of finish, the ladles I hogged out with my new roselli baby its superb axe, and used a spoon gouge and mallet for sake of speed, the hook would do it but too slow on a big bowl. I ordered another mora hook (shallower sweep) and a 2 inch fixed blade for carving, the gerber is ok but being a folder, the blade wobbles and irittate's me to no end. I have the opinel ground like a plane iron (single bevvell) excelent for light finishing cut's. I tried the roselli on a hewn bowl today SO good at cutting cross grain and popping those cip's away.
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m85/beaudolls_2006/spon5.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m85/beaudolls_2006/spoon6.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m85/beaudolls_2006/spoon8.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m85/beaudolls_2006/spoon9.jpg
PS John I noticed you carve hazel as well (what did the poor girl do to deserve that?) :D Do you split the pole's in 2 or just work the form out of the round? I found the hazel nice and even and easy to carve except its very fussy when you change direction, unforgiving if you go against the grain inside a curve or something it wants to split whereas EG beech is more easy going. The bloke as supplied me with ash and beech has chestnut, sycamore cherry, moore good ash. I'm due to cut some more hazel coppice in a few days time, I'll be looking out for any weird bases with bend's in them :D
I have quite a few that I tend to use in the kitchen, I have a few spatulas but have no pics.
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb268/SOAR_2007/spoons.jpg
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb268/SOAR_2007/100_4752.jpg
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb268/SOAR_2007/100_4749.jpg
Still Waters
05-01-2008, 00:44
If im in the woods for a while
Then whatever to hand normally works for me.
Angus Og
05-01-2008, 02:09
Curry spoon. :D
I find that a metal spoon in a metal pot leaves a horrible mettalic taste in the food which make my teeth itch! If I get a takeaway and sombody scrapes the rice out of the tin dish with a metal spoon, I cannot eat that rice as all I taste is the mettalic taste. Plastic or wood for me in a metal pot. Whisks don't tend to leave that metallic taste though. Funny that.
John Fenna
05-01-2008, 09:01
The woods I use either come green from my garden )willow, hazel, ash, sycamore) and are of fairly small dimention or are basically skip wood and are seasoned hard (oak, walnut, box etc).
I tend to split the greenwoods down if there is enough wood to do so. - the seasoned woods I get wot I get!
robin wood
06-01-2008, 09:56
Nice spoons Mr Dazzler and SOAR. I love those Welsh spoon designs, they are so much nicer than the tacky love spoons that you see in every gift shop and not enough people carve them. I particularly like the slight crank in the handle which makes them so much easier to use.
SOAR what's your spoon on the log? looks like Hawthorn or a fruitwood perhaps? Like the handle designs.
Thanks Robin, I'm a great fan of your work, nice web site by the way, the spoon on the log is London Plane, not a wood I have used before its very stringy and quite tough. The handle is a design the wood dictated to me as no matter how I tried to carve it straight it just wanted to curve, a good piece to work with.
Simon.
mr dazzler
06-01-2008, 11:20
As regard's the "luvv spoons" I think probably its like everything else, theres the genuine and the cheapo clone copies. I think some of the genuine old love spoons are real nice. I expect some cheap copies are made in china now adays and I agree they are tackie. :lmao: Doing those must of been an impressive way to show off your level of manual skill though
robin wood
06-01-2008, 21:09
OK following Reds spatula design thoughts up here are some pictures as a basis for discussion.
The first 3 pictures are of the standard cooking spatula we teach as a first project on courses. It is designed as a good project for practising knife work but also works well as a general pot stirrer. It is strong with no short grain at the end so it can be used for vigourously scraping stuck stuff off the base of a pan without damage, the angle at the end makes it more comfortable to use than one cut straight across.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/spatulas1.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/spatula7.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/spatula3.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/spatula2.jpg
This spoontula is designed by a Swedish carver who we greatly admire. It is out of straight grained wood and has slightly weak grain on the leading edge so no vigorous scraping with this one but it works well for flipping roasting veg or roast tatties in a shallow pan, great server too.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/spatula8.jpg
This one I bought for 50p in a charity shop years ago. i like the chunky handle and thin blade much more generous wood use than most commercially produced stuff. We don't use it much because it is just too straight and upright, no crank to the handle and no chamfered end. It is the business for scrambled eggs though that wide flat blade covers the whole base of the pan in seconds.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/spatula4.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/spatula5.jpg
Next a cheap but good olive spatula from David Mellors cookware shop. A good design, I expect this would work very well in a wok though the handle is a bit flat in the hand, i suspect steam bent and not sure how it would fair when subjected to heat and steam.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/spatula6.jpg
These last two are a big spoontula which we use a lot and also teach folk to do on courses. It will work as a cooking spoon but is also great as a server. It is from straight grained wood so the leading edge has a bit of short grain so not for tough scraping again. I find this kind of shape is great for working in a big pan it works like a shovel and is great for flinging lots of veg about quickly.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/spatula10.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/thewoods_album/spatula9.jpg
I would be interested in what folk think of these and interested to see anyone else's pictures of spoons from the kitchen, as you can see I am no snob if it works for your cooking I am interested in it.
woodstock
07-01-2008, 00:24
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?
army issue KFS as issued never felt the need for change food to me is just fuel I sleep like a dog and eat like a pig
British Red
07-01-2008, 21:42
:D
excellent stuff Robin!
BB tells me the "David Mellor" flat design is exactly the sort of thing (we have a round haldled one but the flat one was comfy and the curve sort of hugs the Wok side)!
Are they still available do you know?
Red
robin wood
07-01-2008, 22:11
They were last time I was in there, they have a factory shop in Hathersage Derbyshire and a shop in London. Not sure if they do online or not. My memory was that they were less than £10 I could have a look next time I am down the valley and post you one if you want..it may be a couple of weeks.
British Red
07-01-2008, 22:46
Aye that'd be grand mate - personally I prefer the "spoontula" so if you find yourself with one of them up I can settle up for both ?
Red