Kitchen utensils
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Ladle. A specific variety of a chef's spoon: has a round cup, usually perpendicular or almost perpendicular to the handle. A ladle is used mainly for pouring soups, compotes, various drinks from a pot or other large container into portioned dishes (plates, cups, etc.). Other applications are also possible — in particular, it is convenient to mix the same soups with such a device.
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Chef's spoon. A device that looks like a tablespoon enlarged by about one and a half times. It is quite versatile, it is used, in particular, for mixing and plating salads and second courses, for introducing spices, for taking samples, etc.
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Meat fork. A fork for working with large cuts of meat, such as removing them from the broth, turning them over in a pan, or checking doneness when roasting. It has a rather large length, and there are usually only two teeth.
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Shumovka. A device intended primarily for removing foam when cooking soups, compotes and other similar dishes, boiling potatoes, etc. It has the form of a large spoon with a round scoop, in which small holes or slots are made, or with a scoop in the form of a sieve made of thin metal wire. In addition to removing foam, skimmers can also be used to extract solids from liquids — for example, it is convenient to take ready-made dumplings out of the water with such a dev
...ice.
— Spatula. A classic kitchen spatula is a device in the form of a flat blade on a handle. One of the most popular uses of such a tool is turning dishes while frying: spatulas are useful when cooking chops, steaks, pancakes, etc. However, other uses are possible, for example, for mixing salad. Separately, we note that in this case we are talking about blades with solid blades; models with slots are placed in a separate category, see below about them.
— Spatula with holes. A variation of the kitchen spatulas described above, which has holes in the working part. Thanks to these holes, excess liquid, such as oil or sauce, does not linger on the spatula.
— Spoon with holes. A kind of chef's spoon (see above), which, in accordance with the name, has holes in the scoop. Such devices are very convenient for extracting individual pieces of food from liquid — broth, sauce, marinade, etc.: solid pieces remain in the spoon, and the liquid flows through the holes.
— Spaghetti spoon. Specialized spoon for spreading spaghetti and other similar pasta. It is similar in size to the chef's spoon described above, but differs markedly in design: the cup has holes in the centre and characteristic rounded teeth along the edges. Thanks to this design, spaghetti does not fall out of the cup, and excess liquid flows through the holes.
— Sauce spoon. Spoon for adding various sauces and dressings to dishes. It has a long handle and a cup of a specific shape — with a spout on the side. This spout allows you to accurately dose the contents.
— Potato masher. A tool for mashing potatoes, especially potatoes. Also colloquially referred to as a "crush". It is a round, oval or rectangular plate with special slots, fixed perpendicular to the handle. This layout allows you to conveniently use the pusher as a kind of hand press, and thanks to the slots, the plate provides more pressure, it is easier to press into the product and crush it more efficiently.
— Forceps. Kitchen tongs resemble two chef's spoons or spatulas connected by the ends of the handles. Thanks to this design, you can conveniently take individual pieces of the dish. It should be noted that in cook sets there can be tongs with different specializations: serving (with a characteristic curly working part), for meat (with a working part in the form of a pair of flat spatulas), for salad (with deep cups), for pasta (with characteristic petals) etc. So the type of tongs needs to be specified separately.
— Corolla. A tool for whipping contents that have a more or less liquid consistency — batter for pancakes, omelet blanks, etc. It has a relatively short handle and a working part in the form of a kind of "frame" made of metal or polymer wire.
— A brush. A kitchen brush is similar in design to an ordinary paint brush — except that the bristles, usually, are made not from natural fibers, but from a synthetic polymer, most often food grade silicone. Such a tool is intended for lubricating various products with oil, sauce, icing, etc.: with a brush it is convenient to apply such an “additional coating” in a thin layer.Handle material
The material from which the handles of the included appliances are made.
— Metal. Handles made entirely of metal — usually stainless steel — without any inserts (handles with inserts are placed in a separate category, see below). The main advantages of metal are high strength and reliability; such a handle is not easy to break, even if you specifically set yourself such a goal. In general, metal handles are somewhat inferior in terms of convenience to plastic and wooden ones — in particular, they tend to slip in the hands; however, in fact, it all depends on personal preferences — some, on the contrary, prefer metal. Of the unequivocal disadvantages of this option, a rather high thermal conductivity can be noted — with a long contact of the tool with hot dishes or its contents (for example, if you forget a ladle in a saucepan or a spatula in a pan), the handle can get very hot. However, such situations rarely arise in fact.
— Steel with an insert. Steel handles with additional inserts or overlays made of plastic, rubber, silicone, wood or other material. For features of steel, see "Metal" above; and inserts are intended to more or less compensate for the shortcomings of all-metal handles. First of all, this design provides a secure hold in the hands and minimizes the likelihood of slipping. In addition, most of the materials used for inserts have low thermal conductivity, which allows you to safely take even a very hot device. However, for a number of...reasons, it so happened that most sets using such pens consist of tools that are not designed to work with hot products — corkscrews, nutcrackers, vegetable peelers, etc.
— Wood. Quite a comfortable material for handles: wood has an aesthetic appearance, pleasant to the touch, securely held in the hand and poorly conducts heat, so that such handles almost do not heat up even with prolonged contact of the device with a hot dish. However the wooden surface tends to accumulate dirt, so after each use such a handle must be washed quite thoroughly. Another disadvantage is the likelihood of cracking when wet and then dry, but this is mainly the case with old pens that have served for several years. Note that the tree must be protected from open fire: it can char or even catch fire.
— Plastic. Inexpensive and at the same time very practical material. Plastic is lightweight, can be made in any colour, for ease of holding, its surface can have a notch that prevents slipping, and due to low thermal conductivity, the risk of getting burned on such a handle is minimal, even if the device has been in contact with hot food or dishes for a long time. In addition, unlike wood, plastic does not absorb moisture and dirt and is easy to clean. In terms of strength, it may be somewhat inferior to the same tree, but this moment, usually, is not critical in fact. The disadvantages of this material include sensitivity to strong heat: even from a hot frying pan, plastic can melt. In addition, some consider this material to be “cheap” and not prestigious, but this moment is largely subjective, and among the varieties of plastic there are quite advanced high-strength varieties.
