Author: tapefume.online

  • Cup 

    cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about 100–250 millilitres (3–8 US fl oz).[1][2] Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glassmetal,[3] woodstonepolystyreneplasticlacquerware, or other materials. Normally, a cup is brought in contact with the mouth for drinking, distinguishing it from other tableware and drinkware forms such as jugs. They also most typically have handles, though a beaker has no handle or stem, and small bowl shapes are very common in Asia.

    Cups of different styles may be used for different types of liquids or other foodstuffs (e.g. teacups and measuring cups), in different situations (e.g. at water stations or in ceremonies and rituals), or for decoration.[4][5]

    Minoan pottery cups 1800–1700 BC, Kamares ware

    The history of cups goes back well into prehistory, initially mostly as handle-less beakers or bowls, and they have been found in most cultures across the world in a variety of shapes and materials. While simple cups have been widely spread across societies, high-status cups in expensive materials have been very important status symbols since at least the Bronze Age, and many found in burials.

    Modern household shapes of cup generally lack a stem, but this was not always the case. The large metal standing cup or covered cup with a base and stem, and usually a cover, was an important prestige piece in medieval houses that could afford them, and often used as a “welcome cup”, or for toasts. The form survives in modern sporting trophies, and in the chalices of church liturgy. The 15th-century silver Lacock Cup is a rare English secular survival.[6] These were the sort of cup offered by cup-bearers, historically often an important office in courts.

    Rococo cup with saucer, circa 1753, soft-paste porcelain with overglaze enamellingVincennes porcelain

    Definitions

    [edit]

    The English word “cup” has meant a drinking vessel since at least 1000 AD.[7][8] The definition of a cup is fluid, and is likely to be wider in specialist areas such as archaeology than in modern common speech. As an example, Anna Wierzbicka (1984) notes that in the 1970s the “older generation” expected a cup to be made of porcelain and have both a handle and a saucer, so that the plastic cup with neither a handle, nor a saucer, was not a “real cup”, while the “younger generation” made no such distinction, and used “coffee cup” or “teacup” to indicate the traditional cups. Twelve-year-olds had two different shapes of a cup in mind, one for hot liquids, one for juices.[9]

    Names for different types of cups vary regionally and may overlap (in American English “cups” include “mugs[10]). Any transparent cup, regardless of actual composition, is more likely to be called a “glass“; therefore, while a flat-bottomed cup made of paper is a “paper cup”, a transparent one of very similar shape, is likely to be called a “tumbler“, or one of many terms for glasses, instead. Penelope Stock, a lexicographer, stated that cups, mugs and glasses are “near-synonyms“, although “sufficient differences” can be found that divide them into different groups.[11]

    Wierzbicka and Keith Allan (in his work “On Cup”, 2020) compare definitions of the cup:[12][13]

    TraitWilliam Labov[14]Jerrold J. Katz[15]OED[2]Cliff Goddard[16]Webster’s 2nd ed.[17]
    ShapeTapering, circularVertically oriented, “upwardly concaveHemisphericalThin round sides, smooth top edge, flat bottomOpen, bowl-shaped
    ProportionsSimilar width and depthHeight close to the top diameter that is greater than the bottom oneSmallNot big, bottom narrower than topSmall
    FunctionDrinking hot liquidsDrinkingDrinkingDrinking hot liquids with one hand“Chiefly” drinking, commonly used for hot liquids
    MaterialOpaque “vitreous”Hard and smooth
    HandleOneOptionalOne, in “many things”Optional, one or more
    SaucerPresentPresentCommon
    StemUncommon (usually found in the chalice)Optional
    LidUncommon, not part of the “cup” itselfOptional
    A mug and a cup side-by-side

    Many languages − including French, Italian, Polish, Russian, German − use two separate words for mugs and cups. Wierzbicka suggests that this situation is due to a slightly different functionality: the traditional cups are designed for drinking while sitting down at the table, while the mug is supposed to be used anywhere. This, in her opinion, explains all the specific features:[18]

    • the saucer of the cup helps to protect the table surface, but is an inconvenience away from the table;
    • the tapered shape of the cup accommodates the saucer, the cylindrical design of the mug is due to the absence of the saucer;
    • larger handle of a mug allows carrying the mug around when putting it down is not an option;
    • thicker walls of a mug allow cupping it with a second hand for convenience and reduce the chance of the mug being broken during long periods of handling;
    • sitting at the table implies a more formal occasion, so cups are made to be more elegant, and sold in sets (like a tea set or a coffee service). Mugs are informal and usually sold individually;
    • mug holds more liquid than the cup, as the latter is used in a close proximity of a teapot anyhow. Since limiting the area of the exposed surface of the liquid helps keeping the temperature, this increase in volume is achieved through mug being taller, while tapered cups are lower for stability.

    History

    [edit]

    Imperial “Chicken Cup”, used by the Chenghua Emperor (d. 1487) and his consort for both tea and wine; some 3 inches across, these are now the most expensive cups in the world.[19]

    Cups have been used since the Stone Age and have been found at archeological sites throughout the world.[20] A large number of the earliest cups are excavated from burials, and may have held offerings or supplies for the afterlife. Cups do not feature strongly in the earliest pottery found in most areas; the wares were thick and heavy, as were the carved stone vessels found in several early cultures. Probably cups in organic materials that have now decomposed, such as wood, bamboo and dried gourds were widely used. Large shells and birds’ eggs have been used in some areas almost up to the present. Very simple single-use kulhar cups in unglazed terracotta, and sometimes unfired clay, are still used in South Asia, now mainly at tea stalls, and are very similar to those found at sites of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilization.

    The Bell Beaker culture, is an important archaeological culture named after the distinctive inverted-bell pottery beaker cups it used,[21] marking the beginning of the European Bronze Age from around 2800 BC. The Ringlemere Cup is a solid gold cup, with handle, from around 1600 BC, with the Rillaton Gold Cup one of two such cups known from England, with a handful of other locations and materials (such as the Hove amber cup) making up the “unstable” (round-bottomed) cups in precious materials from the Bronze Age.

    Achaemenid Persian Lion Rhyton in gold, c. 500 BC

    Animal horns must often have been used as cups from very early on, and the rhyton is a cup that imitates their shape, to a greater or lesser degree, in metal or pottery. It was the general elite type of cup throughout the Mediterranean in the Iron Age, from Greece to Ancient Persia and beyond. Only some had feet or bases that allowed them to be rested on a flat surface. Large numbers were decorated with or as animal heads, or terminated in the figure of an animal.

    Other than the rhyton, ancient Greek drinking cup shapes were mostly very wide and shallow bowls, usually on short stems and with two handles, generally oriented horizontally, along the same plane as the mouth of the cup, rather than at 90 degrees to it, as in modern teacups. Survivals in ancient Greek pottery are numerous, and often brilliantly painted, but all probably were made also in silver, where survivals are extremely rare, as grave robbers did not bother with pottery.[22] The most important shapes are the kylixkantharosskyphoslip cup, and the breast-shaped mastos with no base.[23]

    The Roman Empire used cups throughout Europe, with “goblet”-type shapes with shortish stems, or none, preferred for luxury examples in silver,[24] like the Warren Cup, or Roman glass, such as the Lycurgus Cup in color-changing glass,[25][26] or the spectacular carved-glass cage cups. By the 2nd century AD even the wealthy tended to prefer drinking from glass, as adding no taste to the drink.[27]

    Box with set of six flanged cups in lacquer, Western Han

    An ancient shape of cup in various parts of Eurasia was the “flanged cup” with either one or two flat horizontal strips attached to part of the top of the cup, acting as handles. These are found as grave goods in elite burials from around the Warring States Period (c. 475 to 221 BC), in Chinese lacquerware (wood coated with resin from a tree) with two flanges at the sides of an ovoid cup. These are also called “eared cups” (耳杯) and “winged goblets”.[28] A form with a flange on only one side appears in ancient Persian silver, and then later in Chinese porcelain, apparently gradually developing into a shape for brush-washers on the calligrapher’s desk.[29]

    Most ancient types of cup from the Americas were pottery, but around the Gulf of Mexico, Native American societies used the shells of the Horse conch for drinking cups, among other purposes.[30] The tall, decorated and slightly waisted qiru or keru of Andean civilizations first appears in the Early Intermediate Period (100–600 AD). They seem to have been high-status objects. Maya elites drank from elaborately painted pottery beakers such as the Fenton Vase and Princeton Maya Vase with God L.[31]

    In what is now the south-eastern US, traces of Yaupon tea containing caffeine have been found in pottery cups of an unusual shape: straight-sided, with a single thick spike as a handle near the top, opposite a slight pouring lip.[32]

    “unstable” palm cup in Anglo-Saxon glass

    In the Early Middle Ages glass remained in production in northern Europe, especially Germany, probably as a luxury material. Anglo-Saxon glass had several types of cup, most shared with continental areas, including “palm cups” with no flat bottom, claw beakers, glass horns, and different types of beaker.

    In the European Middle Ages the shapes of most ordinary cups were closer to mugstankards, and goblets rather than modern cups, in wood, pottery, or sometimes boiled leather. But the elite preferred cups with stems, and often covers, in metal, with glass a less common alternative. Large “ceremonial” or feasting cups, sometimes called grace cups or “welcome cups”, and drinking horns, including ivory, with metal mounts, were important prestige pieces, typically too large to drink from all evening, so passed around or drunk from once. The name for the very wide ancient Greek wine-cup kylix ended up via Latin as chalice, typically a handle-less goblet in metal, used in the Catholic mass, but also a secular shape. Many individual examples have served both secular and liturgical uses over their history.[33]

    Chinese export porcelain tea cup and saucer in the Western style with handle; 1745; diameter: 10.2 cm. The deep saucer is typical of the period

    By the end of the Middle Ages glass was becoming a much cheaper material, and over the Early Modern Period it replaced pottery and other materials as the norm for cups intended for cold drinks, especially wine and beer. The “wine cup” that had been a major prestige category since classical antiquity was largely replaced by the wineglass, and cups for beer went the same way. Timothy Schroder places this change in England around the end of the 17th century, though others put it nearer the beginning[34] The OED records the first dated use in English of “glass” as a term for a vessel, rather than just the material, in 1393-4.[35] A new wave of hot drinks came to dominate the range of cups.

    Chinese and Japanese cups have been shaped as small, rather wide, bowls for some 2,000 years, smaller versions of the shape used for eating and serving food. As well as the Chinese porcelain that very gradually overtook it, lacquer is a prestige material. The same shapes are typically used in East Asia for both tea and wine or sake, and when they appeared in Europe in the 16th century, this shape was initially used for locally-made cups for the new drinks of tea and coffee.[8]

    By the early 18th century, the European taste for handles on cups, strongly evident from antiquity, reasserted itself and a single vertical handle was added to a slightly more upright Chinese-style bowl to create both the very similar forms of the Western teacup and coffee cup, as well as a saucer. This was initially rather deeper than modern saucers, as it was considered usual to pour the hot liquid into the saucer to cool it slightly before drinking. Apart from a more shallow saucer the essential elements of these two forms in many contemporary examples have changed little since the mid-18th century. European porcelain manufacturers encouraged the development of different sizes of cup, and shapes of pot, for tea and coffee services.[36]

    The 20th century brought the plastic cup, in both disposable and permanent washable forms, and the paper cup, normally disposable. Materials such as processed bamboo have also come into use.

    Cultural significance and use

    [edit]

    The Royal Gold Cup, before 1391, 23.6 cm high, 17.8 cm across at its widest point; weight 1.935 kg, British MuseumSaint Agnes appears to her friends in a vision.

    Since cups have been an integral part of dining since time immemorial, they have become a valued part of human culture. Cups are used across a wide range of cultures and social classes.

    Court culture

    [edit]

    Historically, monarchs have been concerned about assassination via poisoning. To avoid this fate, they often used dedicated cups, with cup-bearers to guard them. A “divining cup” was supposed to be able to detect poison. In the BibleJoseph interpreted a dream for Pharaoh‘s cup-bearer,[37] and a silver divining cup played a key role in his reconciliation with his brothers.

    The Royal Gold Cup is an exceptionally rare survival, made before 1391 for John, Duke of Berry, a French prince, who gave it to his uncle, Charles VI of France. It is in gold, decorated with jewels and scenes in enamel, with a cover and a boiled leather carrying case. It once had a triangular stand which has been lost. It weighs 1.935 kilos, so was perhaps used ceremonially rather than throughout meals.[38]

    Religion

    [edit]

    A two-handled Natla (נַטְלָה) cup used for ritual washing in Judaism

    Practices in many religions around the world, including the Ancient Greek and Roman religions included libations, the pouring of a small amount of liquid onto an altar, image or just onto the ground. Some shapes of cup, such as the wide and shallow Greek phiale (Roman patera, more a dish than a cup) seem mainly to have been used for this, while others were used for both this and drinking. The rhyton, especially the types with a hole in the bottom, was one of many cup shapes used for libations. Libations were common at the start of informal social occasions involving drinking, where the normal cups were presumably often used.

    The most traditional Chinese ritual bronze vessel for libations, the jue, has a large pouring lip, and may be regarded as a type of jug rather than a cup.

    In the Christian ritual of Communion, adherents drink from a cup of wine (or a wine substitute) to commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus.[39] A chalice is often used for this purpose. Chalices are usually handleless metal cups on stems; originally such shapes were standard secular elite drinking cups, and many examples such as the Royal Gold Cup have been used for both religious and secular purposes over their history.

    Cuisine

    [edit]

    The word “cup” is also used as a unit of capacity: the capacity of a “typical” cup, varying slightly from place to place; it is mostly used in recipes. The measuring cup, an adaptation of a simple cup, is a standard tool in cooking that has been in use at least as far back as Roman times.

    Apart from serving as drinking vessels, cups can be used as an alternative to bowls as a receptacle, especially, for soup. Recipes have been published for cooking various dishes in cups in the microwave.[40] Although mainly used for drinking, cups can also be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt).[41]

    Medicine

    [edit]

    Cupping therapy uses heated cups applied to the body to raise the skin, for which a variety of health benefits are claimed. In the Western world, this is regarded as alternative medicineAntimonial cups were made of antimony. If wine was kept in them for some hours, and then drunk, there was an emetic or laxative effect.

    Coconut cups, in Europe typically expensive standing cups with silver mounts, were long believed to have a range of medical benefits, including (like the rarer rhinoceros horn cups), the ability to detect or neutralize poisoned drinks.

    Spa cups are special cups that are used to drink mineral or thermal water directly from a spring, developed in north-west Bohemia during the 17th century[42] and are now part of Czech folklore.

    Heraldry

    [edit]

    Chalices are sometimes used in heraldry, especially ecclesiastical heraldry. A Kronkåsa is a type of elaborate wooden cup which was used by the Swedish nobility during the Renaissance.

    Child development

    [edit]

    Drinking from a cup is a significant step on a baby’s path to becoming a toddler; it is recommended that children switch from bottles to cups between six months and one year of age.[43][44] Sippy cups are typically used for this transition. Like other cups for children, these are normally plastic cups. Special cups for infants seem to date back to the Neolithic age, some shaped like animals, apparently just to engage the child.

    Sports

    [edit]

    Many trophies take the form of a cup. In sports, competitions themselves often take on the name of the cup-shaped trophy awarded.

    Many trophies take the form of a decorated cup, generally in metal. In cases such as the FIFA World Cup and the Stanley Cup, the competition itself may grow to take on the name of the trophy that is awarded to the winner. Owing to the common usage of cup-shaped trophies as prizes for the winners, a large number of national and international competitions are called “cups”.[45]

    For large examples, the two-handled form based on the ancient kantharos is very often used. The size of many means that “vase” would be a more appropriate name, but “cup” has become established. Early trophies, mostly for horse-racing, were generally more simple goblet shapes.

    Games

    [edit]

    In Tarot divination, the suit of cups is associated with the element of water and is regarded as symbolizing emotion, intuition, and the soul.[46][47] Cards that feature cups are often associated with love, relationships, fears, and desires.[46][48]

    Various cups have been designed so that drinking out of them without spilling is a challenge. These are called puzzle cups.

    The cup game involves rhythmically striking plastic cups.[49]

    Promotion

    [edit]

    In the developed world, cups are often distributed for promotional purposes.[50] For example, a corporation might distribute cups with their logo at a trade show, or a city might hand out cups with slogans promoting recycling. There are companies that provide the service of printing slogans on cups.[51]

    For hot beverages

    [edit]

    Teacups on saucersJapanese export porcelain, 19th century

    While in theory, most cups are well suited to hold drinkable liquids, hot drinks like tea are generally served in either insulated cups or porcelain teacups.

    Metal and glass cups can use a double wall construction with a vacuum-sealed space in-between to reduce the loss of heat and keep outside surfaces cooler.[citation needed]

    Disposable

    [edit]

    Assorted plastic cups, commonly used for informal dining.

    Disposable cups are intended to be used only once.[52] They are often used by fast-food restaurants and coffee shops to serve beverages. Institutions that provide drinking water, such as offices and hospitals, may also use disposable cups for sanitary reasons.

    For alcoholic beverages

    [edit]

    Some styles of cups are used primarily for alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, cocktail, and liquor. There are over a dozen distinct styles of cups for drinking beer, depending on the precise variety of beer. The idea that a certain beer should be served in a cup of a certain shape may have been promulgated more for marketing purposes, but there very well may be some basis in fact behind it.[53] Wine glasses also come in different shapes, depending on the color and style of wine that is intended to be served in them.

    For measurement, suction and breasts

    [edit]

    [edit]

  • Kitchen Utensil 

    kitchen utensil is a small hand-held tool used for food preparation. Common kitchen tasks include cutting food items to size, heating food on an open fire or on a stove, baking, grinding, mixing, blending, and measuring; different utensils are made for each task. A general purpose utensil such as a chef’s knife may be used for a variety of foods; other kitchen utensils are highly specialized and may be used only in connection with preparation of a particular type of food, such as an egg separator or an apple corer. Some specialized utensils are used when an operation is to be repeated many times, or when the cook has limited dexterity or mobility. The number of utensils in a household kitchen varies with time and the style of cooking.

    cooking utensil is a utensil for cooking. Utensils may be categorized by use with terms derived from the word “ware“: kitchenware, wares for the kitchen; ovenware and bakeware, kitchen utensils that are for use inside ovens and for baking; cookware, merchandise used for cooking; and so forth.

    A partially overlapping category of tools is that of eating utensils, which are tools used for eating (c.f. the more general category of tableware). Some utensils are both kitchen utensils and eating utensils. Cutlery (i.e. knives[1] and other cutting implements) can be used for both food preparation in a kitchen and as eating utensils when dining. Other cutlery such as forks and spoons are both kitchen and eating utensils.

    Other names used for various types of kitchen utensils, although not strictly denoting a utensil that is specific to the kitchen, are according to the materials they are made of, again using the “-ware” suffix, rather than their functions: earthenware, utensils made of clay; silverware, utensils (both kitchen and dining) made of silver; glassware, utensils (both kitchen and dining) made of glass; and so forth. These latter categorizations include utensils—made of glass, silver, clay, and so forth—that are not necessarily kitchen utensils.

    Materials

    [edit]

    Kitchen utensils in bronze discovered in Pompeii. Illustration by Hercule Catenacci in 1864

    Benjamin Thompson noted at the start of the 19th century that kitchen utensils were commonly made of copper, with various efforts made to prevent the copper from reacting with food (particularly its acidic contents) at the temperatures used for cooking, including tinningenamelling, and varnishing. He observed that iron had been used as a substitute, and that some utensils were made of earthenware.[2] By the turn of the 20th century, Maria Parloa noted that kitchen utensils were made of (tinned or enamelled) iron and steel, copper, nickel, silver, tin, clay, earthenware, and aluminium.[3] The latter, aluminium, became a popular material for kitchen utensils in the 20th century.[4]

    Copper

    [edit]

    Copper has good thermal conductivity and copper utensils are both durable and attractive in appearance. However, they are also comparatively heavier than utensils made of other materials, require scrupulous cleaning to remove poisonous tarnish compounds, and are not suitable for acidic foods.[5] Copper pots are lined with tin to prevent discoloration or altering the taste of food. The tin lining must be periodically restored, and protected from overheating.

    Iron

    [edit]

    See also: Cast-iron cookware

    Iron is more prone to rusting than (tinned) copper. Cast iron kitchen utensils are less prone to rust by avoiding abrasive scouring and extended soaking in water in order to build up its layer of seasoning.[6] For some iron kitchen utensils, water is a particular problem, since it is very difficult to dry them fully. In particular, iron egg-beaters or ice cream freezers are tricky to dry, and the consequent rust if left wet will roughen them and possibly clog them completely. When storing iron utensils for long periods, van Rensselaer recommended coating them in non-salted (since salt is also an ionic compound) fat or paraffin.[7]

    Iron utensils have little problem with high cooking temperatures, are simple to clean as they become smooth with long use, are durable and comparatively strong (i.e. not as prone to breaking as, say, earthenware), and hold heat well. However, as noted, they rust comparatively easily.[7]

    Stainless steel

    [edit]

    Stainless steel finds many applications in the manufacture of kitchen utensils. Stainless steel is considerably less likely to rust in contact with water or food products, and so reduces the effort required to maintain utensils in clean useful condition. Cutting tools made with stainless steel maintain a usable edge while not presenting the risk of rust found with iron or other types of steel.

    Earthenware and enamelware

    [edit]

    Main article: Clay pot cooking

    Earthenware utensils suffer from brittleness when subjected to rapid large changes in temperature, as commonly occur in cooking, and the glazing of earthenware often contains lead, which is poisonous. Thompson noted that as a consequence of this the use of such glazed earthenware was prohibited by law in some countries from use in cooking, or even from use for storing acidic foods.[8] Van Rensselaer proposed in 1919 that one test for lead content in earthenware was to let a beaten egg stand in the utensil for a few minutes and watch to see whether it became discoloured, which is a sign that lead might be present.[9]

    In addition to their problems with thermal shock, enamelware utensils require careful handling, as careful as for glassware, because they are prone to chipping. But enamel utensils are not affected by acidic foods, are durable, and are easily cleaned. However, they cannot be used with strong alkalis.[9]

    Earthenware, porcelain, and pottery utensils can be used for both cooking and serving food, and so thereby save on washing-up of two separate sets of utensils. They are durable, and (van Rensselaer notes) “excellent for slow, even cooking in even heat, such as slow baking”. However, they are comparatively unsuitable for cooking using a direct heat, such as a cooking over a flame.[10]

    Aluminium

    [edit]

    James Frank Breazeale in 1918 opined that aluminium “is without doubt the best material for kitchen utensils”, noting that it is “as far superior to enamelled ware as enamelled ware is to the old-time iron or tin”. He qualified his recommendation for replacing worn-out tin or enamelled utensils with aluminium ones by noting that “old-fashioned black iron frying pans and muffin rings, polished on the inside or worn smooth by long usage, are, however, superior to aluminium ones”.[11]

    Aluminium’s advantages over other materials for kitchen utensils is its good thermal conductivity (which is approximately an order of magnitude greater than that of steel), the fact that it is largely non-reactive with foodstuffs at low and high temperatures, its low toxicity, and the fact that its corrosion products are white and so (unlike the dark corrosion products of, say, iron) do not discolour food that they happen to be mixed into during cooking.[4] However, its disadvantages are that it is easily discoloured, can be dissolved by acidic foods (to a comparatively small extent), and reacts to alkaline soaps if they are used for cleaning a utensil.[12]

    A museum mannequin standing in front of a table set with various kitchen utensils, with more kitchen utensils hanging from the wall behind
    An exhibit of Israeli Defence Forces kitchen utensils at the Batey ha-Osef Museum in Tel Aviv

    In the European Union, the construction of kitchen utensils made of aluminium is determined by two European standards: EN 601 (Aluminium and aluminium alloys — Castings — Chemical composition of castings for use in contact with foodstuffs) and EN 602 (Aluminium and aluminium alloys — Wrought products — Chemical composition of semi-finished products used for the fabrication of articles for use in contact with foodstuffs).

    Plastics

    [edit]

    Biodegradable plastic utensils made from bioplastic

    Plastics can be readily formed by molding into a variety of shapes useful for kitchen utensils. Transparent plastic measuring cups allow ingredient levels to be easily visible, and are lighter and less fragile than glass measuring cups. Plastic handles added to utensils improve comfort and grip. While many plastics deform or decompose if heated, a few silicone products can be used in boiling water or in an oven for food preparation. Non-stick plastic coatings can be applied to frying pans; newer coatings avoid the issues with decomposition of plastics under strong heating.

    Glass

    [edit]

    Heat-resistant glass utensils can be used for baking or other cooking. Glass does not conduct heat as well as metal, and has the drawback of breaking easily if dropped. Transparent glass measuring cups allow ready measurement of liquid and dry ingredients.

    Diversity and utility

    [edit]

    Various kitchen utensils. At top: a spice rack with jars of mint, caraway, thyme, and sage. Lower: hanging from hooks; a small pan, a meat fork, an icing spatula, a whole spoon, a slotted spoon, and a perforated spatula.
    Various kitchen utensils. At top: a spice rack with jars of mintcarawaythyme, and sage. Lower: hanging from hooks; a small pan, a meat fork, an icing spatula, a whole spoon, a slotted spoon, and a perforated spatula.

    Before the 19th century

    [edit]

    “Of the culinary utensils of the ancients”, wrote Mrs Beeton, “our knowledge is very limited; but as the art of living, in every civilized country, is pretty much the same, the instruments for cooking must, in a great degree, bear a striking resemblance to one another”.[13]

    Archaeologists and historians have studied the kitchen utensils used in centuries past. For example: In the Middle Eastern villages and towns of the middle first millennium AD, historical and archaeological sources record that Jewish households generally had stone measuring cups, a meyḥam (a wide-necked vessel for heating water), a kederah (an unlidded pot-bellied cooking pot), a ilpas (a lidded stewpot/casserole pot type of vessel used for stewing and steaming), yorah and kumkum (pots for heating water), two types of teganon (frying pan) for deep and shallow frying, an iskutla (a glass serving platter), a tamḥui (ceramic serving bowl), a keara (a bowl for bread), a kiton (a canteen of cold water used to dilute wine), and a lagin (a wine decanter).[14]

    Ownership and types of kitchen utensils varied from household to household. Records survive of inventories of kitchen utensils from London in the 14th century, in particular the records of possessions given in the coroner’s rolls. Very few such people owned any kitchen utensils at all. In fact only seven convicted felons are recorded as having any. One such, a murderer from 1339, is recorded as possessing only the one kitchen utensil: a brass pot (one of the commonest such kitchen utensils listed in the records) valued at three shillings.[15] Similarly, in Minnesota in the second half of the 19th century, John North is recorded as having himself made “a real nice rolling pin, and a pudding stick” for his wife; one soldier is recorded as having a Civil War bayonet refashioned, by a blacksmith, into a bread knife; whereas an immigrant Swedish family is recorded as having brought with them “solid silver knives, forks, and spoons […] Quantities of copper and brass utensils burnished until they were like mirrors hung in rows”.[16]

    19th century growth

    [edit]

    The up-to-date kitchen fireproof ware in 1894

    The 19th century, particularly in the United States, saw an explosion in the number of kitchen utensils available on the market, with many labour-saving devices being invented and patented throughout the century. Maria Parloa’s Cook Book and Marketing Guide listed a minimum of 139 kitchen utensils without which a contemporary kitchen would not be considered properly furnished. Parloa wrote that “the homemaker will find [that] there is continually something new to be bought”.[17]

    A growth in the range of kitchen utensils available can be traced through the growth in the range of utensils recommended to the aspiring householder in cookbooks as the century progressed. Earlier in the century, in 1828, Frances Byerley Parkes (Parkes 1828) had recommended a smaller array of utensils. By 1858, Elizabeth H. Putnam, in Mrs Putnam’s Receipt Book and Young Housekeeper’s Assistant, wrote with the assumption that her readers would have the “usual quantity of utensils”, to which she added a list of necessary items:[18]

    Copper saucepans, well lined, with covers, from three to six different sizes; a flat-bottomed soup-pot; an upright gridiron; sheet-iron breadpans instead of tin; a griddle; a tin kitchen; Hector’s double boiler; a tin coffee-pot for boiling coffee, or a filter — either being equally good; a tin canister to keep roasted and ground coffee in; a canister for tea; a covered tin box for bread; one likewise for cake, or a drawer in your store-closet, lined with zinc or tin; a bread-knife; a board to cut bread upon; a covered jar for pieces of bread, and one for fine crumbs; a knife-tray; a spoon-tray; — the yellow ware is much the stringest, or tin pans of different sizes are economical; — a stout tin pan for mixing bread; a large earthen bowl for beating cake; a stone jug for yeast; a stone jar for soup stock; a meat-saw; a cleaver; iron and wooden spoons; a wire sieve for sifting flour and meal; a small hair sieve; a bread-board; a meat-board; a lignum vitae mortar, and rolling-pin, &c.

    — Putnam 1858, p. 318[19]

    Mrs Beeton, in her Book of Household Management, wrote:

    The following list, supplied by Messrs Richard & John Slack, 336, Strand, will show the articles required for the kitchen of a family in the middle class of life, although it does not contain all the things that may be deemed necessary for some families, and may contain more than are required for others. As Messrs Slack themselves, however, publish a useful illustrated catalogue, which may be had at their establishment gratis, and which it will be found advantageous to consult by those about to furnish, it supersedes the necessity of our enlarging that which we give:

    Tea-kettle6s. 6d.Colander1s. 6d.Flour-box1s. 0d.
    Toasting fork1s. 0d.3 Block-tin saucepansFlat-irons3s. 6d.
    Bread-grater1s. 0d.5s. 9d.Frying-pans4s. 0d.
    1 Pair of Brass5 Iron Saucepans12s. 0d.Gridiron2s. 0d.
      Candlesticks3s. 6d.1 Ditto and SteamerMustard-pot1s. 0d.
    Teapot and Tray6s. 6d.6s. 6d.Salt-cellar8d.
    Bottle-jack9s. 9d.1 Large Boiling-potPepper box6d.
    Spoons1s. 6d.10s. 0d.1 Pair of Bellows2s. 0d.
    Candlesticks2s. 6d.4 Iron Stewpans8s. 9d.Jelly-moulds8s. 0d.
    Candle-box1s. 4d.Dripping-pan andPlate-basket5s. 6d.
    Knives & Forks5s. 3d.  Stand6s. 6d.Cheese-toaster1s. 10d.
    2 Sets of Skewers1s. 0s.Dustpan1s. 0d.Coal-shovel2s. 6d.
    Meat-chopper1s. 9d.Fish and Egg-slice1 Wood Meat-screen
    Cinder-sifter1s. 3d.1s. 9d.30s. 0d.
    Coffee-pot2s. 3d.Fish-kettles10s. 0d.
    The Set£8 11s. 1d.

    — Isabella Mary Beeton, The Book of Household Management[20]

    Parloa, in her 1880 cookbook, took two pages to list all of the essential kitchen utensils for a well-furnished kitchen, a list running to 93 distinct sorts of item.[19] The 1882 edition ran to 20 pages illustrating and describing the various utensils for a well-furnished kitchen. Sarah Tyson Rorer‘s 1886 Philadelphia Cook Book (Rorer 1886) listed more than 200 kitchen utensils that a well-furnished kitchen should have.[21]

    “Labour-saving” utensils generating more labour

    [edit]

    However, many of these utensils were expensive and not affordable by the majority of householders.[17] Some people considered them unnecessary, too. James Frank Breazeale decried the explosion in patented “labour-saving” devices for the modern kitchen—promoted in exhibitions and advertised in “Household Guides” at the start of the 20th century—, saying that “the best way for the housewife to peel a potato, for example, is in the old-fashioned way, with a knife, and not with a patented potato peeler”. Breazeale advocated simplicity over dishwashing machines “that would have done credit to a moderate sized hotel”, and noted that the most useful kitchen utensils were “the simple little inexpensive conveniences that work themselves into every day use”, giving examples, of utensils that were simple and cheap but indispensable once obtained and used, of a stiff brush for cleaning saucepans, a sink strainer to prevent drains from clogging, and an ordinary wooden spoon.[22]

    The “labour-saving” devices did not necessarily save labour, either. While the advent of mass-produced standardized measuring instruments permitted even householders with little to no cooking skills to follow recipes and end up with the desired result and the advent of many utensils enabled “modern” cooking, on a stove or range rather than at floor level with a hearth, they also operated to raise expectations of what families would eat. So while food was easier to prepare and to cook, ordinary householders at the same time were expected to prepare and to cook more complex and harder-to-prepare meals on a regular basis. The labour-saving effect of the tools was cancelled out by the increased labour required for what came to be expected as the culinary norm in the average household.[23]