Posted by Amanda Clarke, April 3, 2008 at 10:15 AM
The erudite French molecular gastronomist Hervé This thinks that the kitchen whisk is medieval technology, particularly when it comes to its ability to aerate, and he has been experimenting with various instruments—bicycle pumps among them—to find something better suited to the task.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known written use of the term whisk—to refer to a utensil used to break up, blend, or aerate food stuff—came in 1666, and was used in describing a method for transforming egg from its naturally viscous, cohesive form to a more manageable, liquid one.
But similar uses of the word whisk, with reference to quick, sweeping motions, can be traced back even further. Being that this was a tool entrenched in the work of the kitchen—the purview of largely illiterate servants and slaves—it seems likely that whisks of a sort were in use in the kitchen well before their existence was ever recorded on paper. Such whisks appear to have been little more than bundles of gathered reeds or twigs. And though modern whisks are generally made of metal, plastic, or silicone, the essential form and function of these instruments remains largely unchanged from original prototypes.
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Posted by Harold Check, May 29, 2007 at 7:00 PM
After decades of Pyrex primacy, the last ten years have seen some advances in liquid measuring tools. The arrival of the angled "view from above" measuring cup spared home cooks the neck-craning, easy-to-mess-up chore of eyeballing the level. The innovation was cause for much rejoicing, and if you haven't bought one for your kitchen yet, you won't regret springing $7 on the OXO Angled Measuring Cup with its rubberized handle. Along similar lines, the narrow base and wide mouth of Emsa's Perfect Beaker makes smaller liquid measurements easier to accomplish.
On the dry-measure frontier, things aren't quite as rosy. There is plenty of variety in dry measuring cups and spoons but really no clear-cut quantum leaps. Not to say that kitchen suppliers aren't trying. I recently spotted a set of collapsible silicone measuring cups that pop up for use and snap flat for storage. It's an interesting idea that might benefit the cook whose kitchen drawers are too shallow for the ubiquitous stack of plastic measures. Williams-Sonoma is marketing the brightly colored cups as a tool for teaching your kids about working in the kitchen, although it's hard to see the benefit that makes the $20 price tag justifiable.
What's your favorite measuring tool? Anything revolutionary out there on the horizon?
