Register

A technical question

For all refugees from the old Beeb Food Boards :-)
Chill out and chat with the foodie community or swap top tips.
NOTE: CHATTERBOX IS IN THIS FORUM

Moderators: karadekoolaid, THE MOD TEAM, Stokey Sue, Gillthepainter

User avatar
Posts: 4920
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:52 pm
Location: North West London

A technical question

Postby Pepper Pig » Tue May 05, 2020 5:39 pm

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! :o :o :o

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?

User avatar
Posts: 8629
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Stoke Newington, London

Re: A technical question

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue May 05, 2020 5:48 pm

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

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 3253
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: A technical question

Postby Sakkarin » Tue May 05, 2020 6:33 pm

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.

User avatar
Posts: 6058
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:19 am
Location: East Anglia

Re: A technical question

Postby Suffs » Tue May 05, 2020 7:10 pm

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.

User avatar
Posts: 2152
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:38 pm

Re: A technical question

Postby PatsyMFagan » Tue May 05, 2020 7:13 pm

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 :thumbsup ..

Posts: 3511
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:42 pm

Re: A technical question

Postby KeenCook2 » Tue May 05, 2020 10:16 pm

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 :thumbsup ..


Me too, Patsy!

User avatar
Posts: 4920
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:52 pm
Location: North West London

Re: A technical question

Postby Pepper Pig » Tue May 05, 2020 10:21 pm

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?

User avatar
Posts: 797
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:17 pm
Location: East Anglia, UK

Re: A technical question

Postby Suelle » Tue May 05, 2020 11:11 pm

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/

User avatar
Posts: 3146
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 6:28 pm

Re: A technical question

Postby jeral » Tue May 05, 2020 11:42 pm

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.

User avatar
Posts: 2152
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:38 pm

Re: A technical question

Postby PatsyMFagan » Wed May 06, 2020 10:57 am

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 ;) :oops:

edited to add: that my spoon has a much larger surface than my spatula, perhaps I thought it would just fold better ??? :roll:

User avatar
Posts: 5297
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:58 am
Location: Wiltshire

Re: A technical question

Postby Earthmaiden » Wed May 06, 2020 12:46 pm

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.

User avatar
Posts: 1489
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:07 pm

Re: A technical question

Postby Badger's Mate » Wed May 06, 2020 2:27 pm

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. :D

User avatar
Posts: 6058
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:19 am
Location: East Anglia

Re: A technical question

Postby Suffs » Wed May 06, 2020 3:01 pm

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 ;)

Posts: 712
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:08 pm

Re: A technical question

Postby miss mouse » Sat May 09, 2020 12:10 am

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 :thumbsup ..


Me too, Patsy!



And me. Also on a cooking prog (eg Saturday Kitchen) bit of carefully weighed and measured ingredients are left in bowls.

Return to Food Chat & Chatterbox

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 26 guests