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What is this tool?!

pastryani

By pastryani
in Food Traditions & Culture

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pastryani

pastryani

Posted
Posted

You know you have one too many tools when you find something and wonder what the heck it's used for, and don't even know its name to google it. ;-) Both tubes are hollow, and it pivots from parallel to a 90 degree angle. Who knows what this is?!

image.jpg

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

a 'lardon' inserter

 

you jab the hollow 'needle' into fat to fill the tube until full

 

'close' the top part so the fat does not slip out of the top

 

jab the meat w the lower part, open the top and gently force the fat out into the fat as you gently remove the needle

 

probably from France

 

this was commonly done for roast meats to add flavor and fat to tougher cuts of meat for a roast or a braise.

 

killer item

 

do not through it away !

 

send it to me !

 

:biggrin:

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huiray

huiray

Posted
Posted

No!

 

it is a Venturi atomizer.

 

dcarch

 

Agree.

 

pastryani, please confirm that when the two pieces are at 90 degrees the larger tube (with the wooden bit at one end) sits just against the rim of the top of the smaller tube (i.e. does not "overlap" the top of the smaller tube).

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted (edited)

It is an atomizer.  Back in the early days of my artwork with pastels, I used one of these many times a day to spray fixative onto a pastel painting.

 

I'll show you what a larding needle looks like.

 

This is shoved into the fat - suet or lard - which pushes the pusher up the shaft.  It is then inserted into the meat, the pusher is depressed as the needle is withdrawn, leaving the fat inside the meat.

 

HPIM8196.JPG

HPIM8197.JPG

HPIM8198.JPG

 

I have a couple more, one really old, and one that is slightly different, made for forcing "lardons" into shallow cuts in meats (also handy for inserting garlic cloves).  Since they are in my antique and vintage, stuff, and not in regular use, it may take me a while to find them. 

Edited by andiesenji (log)
  • Like 4

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted

Here is a Youtube video on how to use the mouth atomizer, which, believe it or not, some people used to use to blow food dye onto foods.

 

I once watched a "food decorator" prepping a table full of food for a photo shoot and using one of these to "colorize" some of the foods on display.  None was considered suitable for consumption by humans but one of the camera guys took most of the stuff home to feed to his "herd" of dogs.

 

This was back in the late '60s or early '70s before airbrushes were routinely used for this purpose.

  • Like 1

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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huiray

huiray

Posted
Posted (edited)

I used various variations of this, some more fancy than others, during my decades in the lab - often for spraying visualization agents onto TLC plates. Some fancy versions were like these, where one connected it to the lab (pressurized) air supply. Others were hand-crafted by the in-house glass shop of the company I worked in.** Often they comprised an "escape hole" for the air in the barrel of the "tube" surrounding the tube dipping into the liquid  - one closed off the hole with one's finger/thumb to activate the Venturi effect by directing the air flow to project outwards from the tip of the tube drawing up the liquid to be sprayed.

 

** which also made my custom 7-port 6-footer vacuum double manifolds for me. :-) 

Edited by huiray (log)
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Edward J

Edward J

Posted
Posted

Looks like you're correct!

Uh-huh.... And which end do we blow into, and which end is immersed into the liquid you want to atomize? The solid wood end, or the solid pointy steel end?

Don't get me wrong, I use a mouth atomizer almost every day at work to spray coloured cocoa butter, the hinge looks the same, but it is made of two hollow tubes....

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pastryani

pastryani

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

Cool thanks everyone! (I would've responded sooner but couldn't find my post, rookie mistake!!).

Dcarch and huiray are correct (and huiray's description is right on). I remember now getting this right after pastry school to spray color, but have (obviously) never used it. And thanks for the video andisenji - I tried to use this with just water but can't seem to get any water to spray. I checked and there's nothing blocking it... What gives?!

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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted (edited)

Cool thanks everyone! (I would've responded sooner but couldn't find my post, rookie mistake!!).

Dcarch and huiray are correct (and huiray's description is right on). I remember now getting this right after pastry school to spray color, but have (obviously) never used it. And thanks for the video andisenji - I tried to use this with just water but can't seem to get any water to spray. I checked and there's nothing blocking it... What gives?!

 

If you attach a long vinyl tubing to the mouth tube It will make it much easier to use. You will have better control. Almost like an air brush.

 

dcarch

Edited by dcarch (log)
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Norm Matthews

Norm Matthews

Posted
Posted

When I was an art teacher, we used fixitive in a spray can to keep charcoal drawings from smearing.  In the storage room was a bottle of fixitive (basically a type of varnish) and one of those mouth atomizers.  In pre spray can times, fixitive was sprayed on drawings with it. 

http://normmatthews.blogspot.com/

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