Wooden Spoons

[OliverB]

I haven't read the entire thread, but I too love my wooden spoons. No matter what I cook or what utensils I use, there'll always be a wooden spoon or more likely spatula to clean. I like the flat edge since it makes scraping things easier and it stirs just as well I think. Mine are all bamboo, from cost plus and whole foods. I still remember the one my grandmother had, and then gave on to my mom. It shrank and got an angled edge, it was almost black and shiny at the spoon end, the turned tip on the other side eventually broke off, but my guess would be that this spoon was in service for a good 30 to 40 years. It now hangs on the kitchen wall at my parent's house :-)

I actually love all retro and oldfashioned kitchen tools :-)

[andiesenji]

I am also a big fan of wooden spoons and I do have some very old ones.

[OliverB]

too late to edit, but I was also gonna ask: anybody know why there's a little notch cut out on some of these spoons? On the right (or left if you flip it) side, some of my flat edge spoons have a little triangular notch cut out, and so far I have not been able to make sense of that. I'm sure it has some use, otherwise why put it there. Anybody know?

[Gayle28607]

I may be wrong, but isn't it so you can rest it on the pot?

[OliverB]

that's what I thought first too, but it does not work. If the spoon is flat on the table, the notch is cut into the right side, just a bit below the upper edge.

Is it to scrape food off cooking chopsticks? I really can't find any way to use it, but since it adds some extra work in making the thing, I'd guess it has some reason to be there? Even with a wok, I can't figure out how to use that added feature.

[andiesenji]

Oliver, can you post a photo?

[prasantrin]

The notch may be comparable to the notch on a sauce spoon, like this one.

[OliverB]

just a quick shot, but here it is:

several of my older ones have this, and I can't figure out why it would be there. It's cut at a slight angle to the back. Is it to scrape a long cooking chop stick? A grilling grate? It must have some use, as it's been put there deliberately.

[Shamanjoe]

I guess i'm the only one who doesn't really use wooden spoons here. I've always only had the cheap pine ones, and they always looked positively scary after more than a few uses and washes. Would some made out of hardwood (like the very attractive olivewood ones I keep seeing in this thread) hold up better? I'll have to give those or the bamboo ones a try, since everybody here is gushing over them. I have to see what all the fuss is about!

edited to correct punctuation.

Edited November 30, 2009 by Shamanjoe (log)

[Gayle28607]

Well, I'm out on this one. I've never seen a notch quite like that one, in that location on the spoon, rather than on the handle. It looks a little like a rice paddle, though.

[C. sapidus]

On 1/22/2009 at 9:08 PM, C. sapidus said:

I have become quite fond of cheap bamboo spoons. . . . The bamboo spoons have survived many trips through the dishwasher, and can be replaced easily if they crack. . . .

 

On 1/22/2009 at 9:17 PM, Qwerty said:

dishwasher!?!?

 

The spoon rest thread reminded me of this discussion, so I did a search.

 

We still wash bamboo spoons in the dishwasher. Yes, the same ones. For the past 14 years.

 

I am happy to report that all remain in perfect working condition. 

[Smithy]

10 minutes ago, C. sapidus said:

 

 

The spoon rest thread reminded me of this discussion, so I did a search.

 

We still wash bamboo spoons in the dishwasher. Yes, the same ones. For the past 14 years.

 

I am happy to report that all remain in perfect working condition. 

 

Thanks for reviving this topic! I think I missed it the first time around.

 

I find that my taste in wooden spoons has changed. Until recently I used unfinished wooden spoons for, say, mixing dough. I had a beautiful one almost as long as my forearm that I think was made of pine. I say "had" because I recently donated it to a garage sale. I've found that my glossy bamboo spoons, that came with a wok set, work much better and aren't as sticky. I've never tried them in the dishwasher, but it's nice to know that they'll survive it.

[Kim Shook]

I’m surprised to see that I’ve never commented on this thread.  Unlike the vast majority of eG’ers (as far as I can see – I’ve scanned, but not read every single post), I really find most wooden spoons to be useless.  The ones that are flattened off are good for scraping up things that tend to stick if you can’t use metal utensils.  But, for ME, I find the rounded wooden spoons to be truly useless.  Many recipes for making a roux call for using a wooden spoon to stir.  This, for ME, results in a spirograph-like pattern in the bottom of the pan of metal pan and scorching roux.  I know some people use them for serving.  I find them useless for that, too.  They are generally too thick to be effective for spooning most foods out of a serving dish.  I DO like them for doing two-handed salad serving.  I have an assortment of wooden spoons – mostly thanks to stocking stuffer elves – but what I really use are silicone utensils of various thickness and stiffness.  I must reiterate – this is MY opinion.  I’m not trying to convince anyone else of this. 

[heidih]

@Kim Shook good point on individual preferences. My preferences are mostly emotional. I grew up with them - some of my earliest kitchen memories. I have stated before - I have one for savory and one for baking/sweet.  Def not for serving. They feel good in my hand and with my nerve issues metal spoons seem like they conduct heat to hand and sound like nails on chalkboard to me. Silicon - just gives me an artificial feel - so emotional reason again.  And I used to put in dishwasher when I used one. Cirrent ones are at least 20 years old. 

[Smithy]

Yeah, I grew up with wooden spoons. My mother's main use for a wooden spoon was for stirring fudge, so there's a very happy memory there (including the delicious process of cleaning it up!!) But even then, I remember the spoon leaving little trails on the bottom of the pot. Getting all the fudge out of the pot and into the platter was a process.

 

I think Mom used a wooden spoon because it could get into the corners of a pot more easily than a spatula. Then again, she might simply have done it that way because HER mother did it that way.

[AlaMoi]

I'm agonna' hold me keyboard , , , really I am . . .

[Katie Meadow]

Wooden spoons? What's not to like? The oldest utensil on Earth, although don't quote me on that. I do not own a stand mixer. When baking, once the ingredients are too thick to whisk, I use a wooden spoon that's probably as old as, well, I have no idea.  I also own two wooden spatulas, one broad, one narrow. These work really well for things that might stick on the bottom or corners of the pan. I always use one or the other and I use them all the time.

 

Spoon rests seem kinda silly to me; they have only one purpose. Plus, I don't believe my gadget drawer has room for a toothpick at this point.  I usually use more than one utensil when I cook,  often something that isn't shaped like a spoon. A plate or wide dish that can accommodate whatever and which uses little or no brain power to locate.

 

 

[lindag]

I have one very pretty one which I never use.  i much prefer silicone spoons or metal.  To me the wooden ones are too thick and requite too much hands-on care.

[heidih]

1 hour ago, AlaMoi said:

I'm agonna' hold me keyboard , , , really I am . . .

that is a beautiful image. Do you cook with those glossy guys?

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

that is a beautiful image. Do you cook with those glossy guys?

 

They're all glossy; apparently recently oiled.

[Kerry Beal]

5 hours ago, Smithy said:

Yeah, I grew up with wooden spoons. My mother's main use for a wooden spoon was for stirring fudge, so there's a very happy memory there (including the delicious process of cleaning it up!!) But even then, I remember the spoon leaving little trails on the bottom of the pot. Getting all the fudge out of the pot and into the platter was a process.

 

I think Mom used a wooden spoon because it could get into the corners of a pot more easily than a spatula. Then again, she might simply have done it that way because HER mother did it that way.

My mother's main use for a wooden spoon was paddling my ass! 

 

And she made good fudge. 

[AlaMoi]

13 hours ago, heidih said:

that is a beautiful image. Do you cook with those glossy guys?

heehee.  +/- twice a year I do the board and some-or-all the treenware with mineral oil&beeswax.

the oldest of those date to the mid-1980's - made from black cherry - very durable.

[kayb]

My mother died in 1995. I still have her wooden spoons in a drawer, and use them daily.

 

@Katie Meadow — my spoon rest serves double duty as a place to park eggs you’re going to crack for baking or otherwise cooking, and to park the eggshells after you’ve cracked them. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I have no wooden spoon skills.    I do use several wooden straight edge "paddles" that work as scrapers or pushers in non-stick pans.  

Somewhere,  long ago, I read one of our favorite food gurus, when asked why she suggested using wooden spoons in her recipes, answered, "Because they don't make noise when you hit the side of the bowl."    

[weinoo]

44 minutes ago, kayb said:

My mother died in 1995. I still have her wooden spoons in a drawer, and use them daily.

 

 

My mother died a little more recently than that, but I still have, and use, some of the wooden stuff she had and used, and probably some stuff that her mother had, and used.  It's great.