Caviar spoon
Caviar spoons are a type of spoon traditionally made of inert materials, such as animal horn, gold, mother of pearl, and wood. Other materials used for caviar spoons include bone, glass, and gold-plated metal. They range in length from 7 to 13 cm (2.7 to 5 in), and have a small shallow bowl that may be either oval or paddle shaped and a flat handle.
There is a custom that caviar should not be served with a metal spoon, because metal may impart an undesirable flavour. Though caviar is stored and sold in metal tins, non-reactive interior linings are put in place to prevent any adverse effects. Silver spoons are reactive, however, and thus may affect the flavor.
A caviar knife is frequently sold together with the spoon. It is a 5 inches long flat knife with a bulbous tip, typically also made of a fancy material like mother-of-pearl.
A caviar fork is a rare utensil introduced around 1840s. Sometimes, it is made from mother-of-pearl, too, but the ones from the Victorian times were frequently made of silver. Tiffany & Co. catalogue called a similar pattern an "oyster fork".
See also
References
- ↑ Wolke, Robert L. (2002). What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained (1st ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. p. 163. ISBN 0393011836.
- ↑ "History of Cutlery: History of the Spoon". Eating Utensils. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
- ↑ "Storing and Serving Caviar". OLMA Caviar. 2020-10-01. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ Ettlinger 1992a.
- ↑ Tesauro, Jason and Phineas Mollod (2002). The Modern Gentleman (2nd ed.). [Berkeley, Calif.]: Ten Speed Press. p. 48. ISBN 9781607740063.
- ↑ Chandra, Gowri. "5 Myths About Eating Caviar and How to Unlearn Them". foodandwine.com. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- ↑ Burnside, Margaret Word (Jan–Feb 2010). "Ask Margaret: Why can't caviar be served with metal spoons?". Tampa Bay Magazine. 25 (1). Retrieved 14 November 2012.
- ↑ Ettlinger 1992b.
- 1 2 Schollander & Schollander 2002, p. 72.
- ↑ Schollander & Schollander 2002, p. 62.
Sources
- Ettlinger, Steve (1992a). "Caviar Spoon". The Kitchenware Book. McMillan Publishing Company. pp. 375–376. ISBN 0-02-536302-6. OCLC 1256259403.
- Ettlinger, Steve (1992b). "Caviar Knife". The Kitchenware Book. McMillan Publishing Company. p. 375. ISBN 0-02-536302-6. OCLC 1256259403.
- Schollander, Wendell; Schollander, Wes (2002). Forgotten Elegance: The Art, Artifacts, and Peculiar History of Victorian and Edwardian Entertaining in America. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-313-31685-2. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
External links
Media related to Caviar spoons at Wikimedia Commons
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