Unusual & mysterious kitchen gadgets

[Victor]

On 9/28/2017 at 9:18 PM, andiesenji said:

I did not state that the knife was "targeted for a place with no grapes."  Similar knives are made and sold in the U.S. (mine is a 40-year-old DEXTER), France, Italy, etc.  I happened to mention the PBS slow food series that had a much longer segment on the famous Turpan grape festival in Xinjiang where "hundreds of grape varieties are grown and there are several grape-tasting events during July and August, the peak season.."

Other provinces were mentioned that conduct festivals associated with food and with the harvest. As I recall they mentioned a "Hungry Ghost Festival" and others. Certainly there has been huge promotion of Chinese wines and grape production for wine at the world wine tastings.  And one article stated "At the same time, there are new wineries in Hunan Province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Jiangxi Province making wines with the wild Vitis davidii and Vitis quinquangularis.
 And this is not from a "propaganda" source but from Decanter, published in the UK.   I don't believe my information is "bunk."  

 

 

I think this one is from China.

 

And this is one used by a friend that bought it in France.  They vary in blade length and curvature, some are more hooked, but they are called grape knives in many catalogs or pruning knives. 

And according to my friend, who grows grapes, they are preferred for grafting vines onto rootstock.

 

The first knife looks like a sickle. I don't think I've seen a knife like that before. 

[Lisa Shock]

OK, I could use some help here. A friend of mine has a small sterling silver cup which he believes to be a tastevin. To me, it simply isn't, but I cannot say what it is. Below are pictures. The cup itself is 2" in diameter and a little over 3" tall. (so it's more like a shot glass, whereas a tastevin is shallow and wide, so you can swirl the wine and observe and smell it) It has a smaller base, up to about half of the side is smaller (kind of like the top part of a double boiler) so it appears to have been made to sit inside another container. One side has a curved loop which appears to be designed to act as a hinge, or maybe just perch on the rim of something else. The other side has a stem and handle, about 3" long, which resembles a hat pin. The plastic/bakelite ball is very red. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[pastrygirl]

A butter or brandy warmer?  Though most of the ones on eBay have a pouring spout ... 

[Tropicalsenior]

It is a sommelier cup.

 

 

[Anna N]

15 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

It is a sommelier cup.

 

 

Citation?  

[Tropicalsenior]

There is one on eBay here. I recognized it from when I worked in restaurants.

Edited October 21, 2017 by Tropicalsenior
Addition (log)

[rotuts]

not only that

 

it looks like the same one :

 

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/FABULOUS-VINTAGE-STERLING-SILVER-SOMMELIER-TASTING-CUP-N7-B-/381417944730?hash=item58ce47f69a:m:mtcb_EK-ccFYuCHEeJlqXzg

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

There is one on eBay here. I recognized it from when I worked in restaurants.

 

Thank you.Thank you.

 

I did quite a lot of searching to try and help out so it seems necessary to provide a source for your statement.  I do appreciate that you did so. 

Edited October 21, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[andiesenji]

1 hour ago, Lisa Shock said:

OK, I could use some help here. A friend of mine has a small sterling silver cup which he believes to be a tastevin. To me, it simply isn't, but I cannot say what it is. Below are pictures. The cup itself is 2" in diameter and a little over 3" tall. (so it's more like a shot glass, whereas a tastevin is shallow and wide, so you can swirl the wine and observe and smell it) It has a smaller base, up to about half of the side is smaller (kind of like the top part of a double boiler) so it appears to have been made to sit inside another container. One side has a curved loop which appears to be designed to act as a hinge, or maybe just perch on the rim of something else. The other side has a stem and handle, about 3" long, which resembles a hat pin. The plastic/bakelite ball is very red. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

Does these look familiar?

 

It is an alcohol cup, missing its lid, which sits under a chafing dish and holds denatured alcohol.  It should have a slotted lid to contain and direct the flame.  This one looks like it is from the Art Deco era.  

I looked at hundreds of chafing dishes from various eras when I was catering. At one time I had a dozen, many had cups similar to this, some were more elaborate with little burner controls and in some the cups were not removable.

They had to be when they were silver so they could be polished.

I found a few other examples of this type of cup.   A mid-century modern style similar to some I had in the 1980s.

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by andiesenji (log)

[rotuts]

it might be on EBay as a sommelier cup

 

but I really doubt that's what it is.

 

its completely different from all the rest.

 

the S.C. was carried by the sommelier

 

this sits on something

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

You're probably right. I worked with a chef that used it as a tasting cup. But come to think of it, he wasn't that good a chef either.

[andiesenji]

2 minutes ago, rotuts said:

it might be on EBay as a sommelier cup

 

but I really doubt that's what it is.

 

its completely different from all the rest.

 

the S.C. was carried by the sommelier

 

this sits on something

 

 

 

You are correct.  It sits IN something.  

I grew up in a house where chafers were used all the time and I have seen and "helped" clean many of these.  As a child I liked to do "chores" and the servants were very obliging.  I loved to "help" with the silver polishing although I am sure I was more of a hinderance than help, but I did learn a lot about how things worked.  

 

[rotuts]

however

 

this suggests to me that it might sit in something larger than its diameter :

 

 

so it doesn't wobble

 

interesting .

[lindag]

It looks to me like a cup made for dipping into a liquid of some sort...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rotuts]

On EBay this cup :

 

""  From handle to handle the cup measures 4 1/2 inches, and is 1 1/4 inches deep and 2 1/8 inches in diameter.

 

its pretty small.

 

[rotuts]

this lip suggests it designed to sit snugly in something specific :

 

 

then also something larger

 

which the two prong item accommodates 

 

 

[dcarch]

It would not be a sommelier cup.

Sommelier cups normally are dish shaped, for better aroma airing.

 

dcarch

 

 

[boilsover]

8 minutes ago, dcarch said:

It would not be a sommelier cup.

Sommelier cups normally are dish shaped, for better aroma airing.

 

dcarch

 

 

Agree.  If it's a tastevin, it's an exceedingly poorly-designed one.  It is too deep, ill-suited to holding while looking and tasting, and lacks the prismatic features necessary to judge wines' clarity and brilliance.

[andiesenji]

5 hours ago, rotuts said:

however

 

this suggests to me that it might sit in something larger than its diameter :

 

 

so it doesn't wobble

 

interesting .

 

It might also be a hook element for the  top to hook onto.  It looks to me as if it had something around it  at one time.  Somewhere in my stuff I have a little brandy warmer (alcohol burner) with a similar bracket that holds a wire support for a brandy snifter.  The base in which it sets holds the cup in a ring but I don't think the cup has a handle. It has been years since I looked at it, it is packed away with stuff I haven't used for 30 years. 

[Lisa Shock]

Thanks everyone, especially @andiesenji ! I agree that it's probably part of a chafer of one sort of another.

 

BTW, I have seen hundreds of things listed on eBay as the wrong item. Sometimes it has worked to my advantage, most often not. People want to believe that their stuff is priceless treasure.

Edited October 22, 2017 by Lisa Shock (log)

[liuzhou]

Here's one for you.

 

 

 

All I will divulge at present is that there are no moveable parts and although it can be used as a whisk that is not its primary purpose.

Edited December 22, 2017 by liuzhou
typo (log)

[gfron1]

I feel like it wants to mash or break up something.

[liuzhou]

16 minutes ago, gfron1 said:

I feel like it wants to mash or break up something.

 

Nope

[andiesenji]

On 10/21/2017 at 10:47 PM, Lisa Shock said:

Thanks everyone, especially @andiesenji ! I agree that it's probably part of a chafer of one sort of another.

 

BTW, I have seen hundreds of things listed on eBay as the wrong item. Sometimes it has worked to my advantage, most often not. People want to believe that their stuff is priceless treasure.

 

 

These are all "twirl whisks"  designed to get into the corners of sauce pans ("pan corner whisk" aka "gravy whisk") and also used for mixing cocoa powder or chocolate - used similarly to a molinillo by using the palms of the hands to "twirl" the whisk. 

The biggest one is Kuhn Rikon and is called the "tornado whisk"

 

I saw these being demonstrated at Dillard's several years ago and bought these as well as several other "odd" whisks at the same time.  

The Rosle one has since been discontinued in the U.S. but is still available in Europe. I used it yesterday to blend cocoa powder into a base for ice cream and I had to retrieve it from the dishwasher to take the photo - it still has the evidence on it.  

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

I haven't a clue. But while searching for it on the internet I was sent to a wholesale page for items from China and I couldn't believe the prices. For instance, a tea infuser that I just bought for $4 retails for $0.03. However, I would have to buy 1000 of them.