The Elusive Spoon

I'm looking for a different spoon and have been for years. If you ever happen to catch the Jacques and Julia cooking at home in the episode about beef bourguignon? Chef Pepin pulls out a stainless steel overized spoon with a large bowl on one end? and a much smaller spoon on the other end with (of all things) a slot up the handle so that you dip out a taste from your pot and you rock the spoon up and taste out of the handle end.
I have had no luck anywhere .. -sigh- jccampb

Any idea whether one can ORDER Publix' spoons online?

i couldn't cook without a flat wooden spatula. i use that for everything. spoons, not so much for some reason.

Love the spoon discussion. A good spoon is an important companion in the kitchen!

I actually discovered that I really like cooking with the Martha Stewart line of big spoons I found at KMart. They were reliable and inexpensive tools I used when I worked as a restaurant line cook, and I'm still using them now in my home kitchen.

I've had spoons made for me. Wooden ones that is. I have some spatulas (turners) that I bought 15 years ago. I still have two. My ex called recently to say hers (she took two-we bought 5 at the time) were ruined and did I have one to spare. HA. I'll share my child with her but not my perfect spatula. Sorry.

I also remember being taught you never leave a spoon in the pot while the food is cooking. Metal gets hot and wood can transfer flavor...

This is too much - I am a spoon freak as well and must have twenty of the dam(n) things - always was looking for the perfect one until I found the same one you did some years ago. It is indeed perfect perfect for all the things you mentioned and since I have small hands I do like the shorter handle. Have no idea where I found it unfortunately since I have never been to Publix but do have the same one with a pierced bowl - they really are great. I also second the use of ice tea spoons for tasting.

Love this site by the way and sometimes learn a lot from the comments of posters.

This reminds me of when my mom found her perfect spoon! It was maybe 15 years ago, and the spoon was from Williams-Sonoma, long-handled stainless steel, with a perfectly sized bowl. She requested two of them for Christmas, and I think she got a spoon each from 4 different people, none of whom had understood the concept of a perfect spoon; they'd all gone out and bought one that looked more or less the same as the perfect one but was probably cheaper. They were NOT the same---long handles all, but too deep, too blunt, too small, basically, not perfect. Luckily, someone did get her exactly the right ones, because Williams-Sonoma doesn't make them anymore; I still consider stealing them every time I visit. The long handle is key for someone who cooks in volume. So I know exactly what I'm looking for, and in the meantime I content myself with paddles (I'm a huge fan of $2 bamboo paddles from asian groceries!) and the great fortune of pans that pour driplessly, but I'm definitely making a trip to a Publix next time I get anywhere near their territory.

In a similar vein, I've been on the lookout for what I've come to call "the magic pan" for years---a large fry/simmer pan with two small handles, which I imagine would live on my stove and receive daily use. Calphalon's "everyday" pan is the perfect shape but they don't make it big enough for me and my giant quantities of food. I just happened on an online picture of All-Clad's 13-inch braiser, which looks like it might well be the magic pan. If anyone has one I'd love to hear what you think of it.

I like all the talk about spoons but just as important are the pots and pans with rounded edges where sides meet bottoms so all these great spoons can get to all the nooks and crannies.

My all-time favorite is an olive-wood 'spootle' that I bought at the Idea Factory in New Orleans (http://www.ideafactoryneworleans.com/home4.htm) - it has a narrow straight edge perfect for getting into corners and a deep enough bowl to scoop up a good size taste, and it gets better looking the more I use it. Not too long of a handle, or too thick, which is important when you have small hands!

I have several favorites. Currently, the best is a relatively big wooden spoon made by a local (from Clarksdale, Mississippi) craftsman. It's got a relatively deep bowl, a square end, a nice curve to the handle, and a notch in the handle that allows it to be set on the pot you're stirring. It's perfect for cooking roux, jambalaya, risotto and the like.

Two others came from Chinese restaurant supply houses in Atlanta. One is small, has a very broad, shallow bowl and a wooden handle, and the other is pretty large and has a deeper bowl (and looks hand-hammered). Both are great for dishing things up, the former particularly things like rice dishes, the later from big pots of soup or beans.

I've not been that attached to a metal spoon, although I have a medium large on that looks like it could turn up in a school cafeteria kitchen that I got decades ago and is still heavily in use.

I love Publix's utensils! Their store brand pie servers and cheese knives are the best. People seem to think you have to spend a lot of money to get great quality cooking tools, but I think the truth is, that the boutique places sell what looks good, and stores like Publix sell what works good (well?). You get my point. :-)

I completely understand having very specific needs and requirements from seemingly simple items. I understand most of your logic about the perfect spoon, but I have a question about one aspect of it- the material. Metal spoons get got when left in a pot, and sometimes even when stirring. Do you put the spoon aside when you are not stirring? Do you ever leave it in a pot?

I have spoon envy. Spoons are kind of a *thing* for me - I started to collect them when we were still in New York, taking trips to Fish's Eddy and other stores that sold random shapes, sizes, and patterns, and I'm looking forward to mining the antique shops and flea markets around New England to find even more. I've yet to find a favorite, but you can be sure that the next time we're in Florida I'm going to check out the local Publix to find one like yours!

I don't know if I have a favorite, but I have appropriated a few stainless steel rice paddles from my mom, who bought them in India. The best one resembles your prized Publix spoon, but is a bit wider at its widest point and less concave -- a rice paddle with an extended, triangulated head. From the looks of it, I'm not sure if I'd care for the flat handle of the Publix version; mine has a roundness that makes it very comfortable to hold and it also appears to be lighter in weight, more streamlined in looks. I imagine similar ones can be purchased at Indian/Asian grocery stores. Cheap and always useful. Free, for those of us with moms who will give them up.

I have about a dozen woden spoons and spatulas that I have used for many years--can't cook without them--I taste with a teaspoon--always have an old sugar bowl full of them next to the stove.

The Kunz Spoon--it's the best there is, in my opinion.

My mom has a Publix right up the street, I will ask her to look for one for me too! Brand name?

Amanda, please--who is the manufacturer of the spoon? Many thanks.

This sounds so much easier than what I do. I have always bought the long handled stainless steel restaurant supply kind and cut the handle to the length I like and then redrill the hole for hanging it up. I have made short handled slotted spoons, too. Isn't Publix great!