A technical question
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- Pepper Pig
- Posts: 4920
- Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:52 pm
- Location: North West London
A technical question
These days I don’t do much baking. I’m fat, the kids have left home and I’d only eat it. Catching up with my lockdown viewing I’ve just been watching Mary Berry making a very fancy layered cake thing which ended up looking wonderful. She folded some beaten egg whites into one of the mixtures WITH A RUBBER SPATULA!
I was always taught that you should use a metal spoon for this. Is that now wrong? Have things changed? Is this the end of baking as I know it?
I was always taught that you should use a metal spoon for this. Is that now wrong? Have things changed? Is this the end of baking as I know it?
- Stokey Sue
- Posts: 8629
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
- Location: Stoke Newington, London
Re: A technical question
I've been using a silicone spatula for folding ever since I've had one - far easier then a metal spoon as it bends just enough to fit the shape of the bowl and get the mixture off the surface
I don't know where I got the idea from, a TV cook I suppose, but it's so long ago I've no idea which
I think the only point of using a metal spoon was that it cut through the mixture better than the wooden spoon you had presumably used initially
I have a load of wooden spoons, I haven't used one in years
I don't know where I got the idea from, a TV cook I suppose, but it's so long ago I've no idea which
I think the only point of using a metal spoon was that it cut through the mixture better than the wooden spoon you had presumably used initially
I have a load of wooden spoons, I haven't used one in years
Re: A technical question
It's hard to really appreciate how a silicon spatula get every last drop out of a bowl without trying it! As Sue says, it sort of sticks to the curves of the bowl. I didn't think I'd ever use mine, but I've nearly worn it out. Particularly good for persuading risen bread dough out of a bowl. It's not a huge leap from that to folidng stuff in, I usually use the spatula.
Re: A technical question
A silicon spatula really cuts through and folds the whipped egg white into the mixture. I was surprised the first time I used one, but now it’s the implement I use for this and for ‘scraping’ every last scrap of mixture into the cake tin.
- PatsyMFagan
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- Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:38 pm
Re: A technical question
I mainly use one of my 2 silicon spatulas (one being a freebie with a food magazine and well worth the cost of the magazine) ..I really only use a large metal spoon now if I'm making meringue.
What annoys me no end is when you see a tv cook/chef, turning any mix from a bowl into a cooking/baking pan and leaving so much behind. As others have said, you can get every last bit of mixture out of the bowl ..
What annoys me no end is when you see a tv cook/chef, turning any mix from a bowl into a cooking/baking pan and leaving so much behind. As others have said, you can get every last bit of mixture out of the bowl ..
Re: A technical question
PatsyMFagan wrote:
What annoys me no end is when you see a tv cook/chef, turning any mix from a bowl into a cooking/baking pan and leaving so much behind. As others have said, you can get every last bit of mixture out of the bowl ..
Me too, Patsy!
- Pepper Pig
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- Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:52 pm
- Location: North West London
Re: A technical question
But it begs the question Pat, why the metal spoon for meringues? I was told the metal spoon was for folding AND meringues. So does silicon not work for the egg white stuff?
Re: A technical question
Pepper Pig wrote:But it begs the question Pat, why the metal spoon for meringues? I was told the metal spoon was for folding AND meringues. So does silicon not work for the egg white stuff?
I thought metal spoons were advised, rather than wooden spoons, because they were thinner, and could cut through meringue or cake mixes easier than a thick wooden spoon which would tend to crush the air out of either type of mix.
A silicone spoon is also thinner than a wooden spoon and has the advantage that nothing sticks to it, so it slides more easily through whatever you're mixing.
So, IMO, a silicone spoon should work just as well for meringues as for cake mixes, and just as well as a metal spoon.
Traditional home baking, and more:
http://mainlybaking.blogspot.co.uk/
http://mainlybaking.blogspot.co.uk/
Re: A technical question
I imagine that for meringue mix alone, metal is recommended as it can be convincingly shiny clean and grease free.
Maybe for folding in cake egg whites, switching to a metal spoon or knife was also to remind the cook to cut and fold not beat as well as mixture sliding off easily so each fold is cleanly discrete. < Best guess.
Maybe for folding in cake egg whites, switching to a metal spoon or knife was also to remind the cook to cut and fold not beat as well as mixture sliding off easily so each fold is cleanly discrete. < Best guess.
- PatsyMFagan
- Posts: 2152
- Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:38 pm
Re: A technical question
Pepper Pig wrote:But it begs the question Pat, why the metal spoon for meringues? I was told the metal spoon was for folding AND meringues. So does silicon not work for the egg white stuff?
No idea Jude ... it's just what I do - no rational reasoning behind that
edited to add: that my spoon has a much larger surface than my spatula, perhaps I thought it would just fold better ???
- Earthmaiden
- Posts: 5297
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:58 am
- Location: Wiltshire
Re: A technical question
I suspect it's just that most of us having this discussion grew up at a time when we didn't have silicon spatulas and thus learned which available utensils were best at the time, and why. I have used spatulas for all the reasons discussed and find them excellent. I might revert to a metal spoon for meringues if I was cooking to impress though, just because old habits die hard.
- Badger's Mate
- Posts: 1489
- Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:07 pm
Re: A technical question
I'm sure that's right EM. Silicone spatulas are relatively new fangled, I've grown to love them and have now got four or five in different colours and sizes. However I still use large metal spoons too. I'll use either for folding but the spatulas for scraping afterwards. Moreover I've got a favourite old wooden spoon I regularly reach for if a pot needs stirring.
Re: A technical question
Oh yes BM ... a well used wooden spatula was one of the things I took with me “when I left” ... some things really are precious
- miss mouse
- Posts: 712
- Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:08 pm
Re: A technical question
KeenCook2 wrote:PatsyMFagan wrote:
What annoys me no end is when you see a tv cook/chef, turning any mix from a bowl into a cooking/baking pan and leaving so much behind. As others have said, you can get every last bit of mixture out of the bowl ..
Me too, Patsy!
And me. Also on a cooking prog (eg Saturday Kitchen) bit of carefully weighed and measured ingredients are left in bowls.
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