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tline3open  Speaking of spoons ....

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Author Topic:   Speaking of spoons ....
akgdc

Posts: 289
Registered: Sep 2001

iconnumber posted 09-10-2001 08:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for akgdc     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
... the coin silver tablespoons I posted about earlier today have pretty heavy wear to the left side of a couple of the bowls, which raises a question I've always wondered about: how exactly were these spoons used in the early 19th century?

Today, I use old tablespoons like these for soup or for serving. But they're not exactly well-adapted for use as soup spoons -- the bowls are too large and awkwardly shaped. And if they were only used as serving spoons, this would hardly explain the tip wear on many of them, which suggests heavier duty stirring or scraping.

Perhaps someone watching these forums knows more about this than I do.

Were pre-1850 tablespoons used more the way we use knives and forks today? This would certainly help explain why they were phased out (or at least changed form) just as knives and forks became more widespread. Also, in an era of boiled, salted meat, overcooked vegetables, and lots of porridges and puddings, I'd imagine there wasn't too much served at dinner that you couldn't manage to eat with a big, hefty tablespoon. I can even imagine someone holding a piece of boiled corned beef, say, with his left hand or with a fork while he sawed off a piece of it using a tablespoon held in his right hand. (I don't think they were eating many medium-rare t-bone steaks in 1830.) This would explain the heavy wear to the left tips of many early tablespoons.

All this is just half-cooked speculation; does anybody have some well-boiled information on the subject?

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wev
Moderator

Posts: 4121
Registered: Apr 99

iconnumber posted 09-10-2001 09:17 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for wev     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Interesting topic. A few things to consider:
  • Most serving bowls were salt glazed or rough slipped, nothing like the smooth finish we are used to. I have a pair of family serving dishes from the era, salt glazed and rough as sandpaper inside from use.
  • Food was, as a portion of income, very expensive and not to be wasted; every bit in the bowl was scraped out and eaten.
  • Forks are a recent (relative) addition to the table of the general populace. As late as the 1860s, American etiquette books warned against the affected English habit of using forks when a placespoon and good knife would suffice.
  • 180 years is enough to take the edge off the best of us.

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akgdc

Posts: 289
Registered: Sep 2001

iconnumber posted 09-10-2001 11:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for akgdc     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
All points well-taken, especially the last one!

As a side point, I guess we can assume that in the days before germ theory, people (even well-bred ones) would eat with the tablespoons and then dig them into the serving bowl for another helping.

Do the etiquette books say anything about this?

And when *did* tablespoons cease to be part of individual place settings?

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Brent

Posts: 1507
Registered: May 99

iconnumber posted 09-11-2001 10:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Brent     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here are a few more thoughts:
  1. Tip wear is usually associated with stirring. As I understand it, when spoon styles changed a lot of older spoons were put on "kitchen duty". In other words, the "help" would get the old spoons to use as cooking utensils. Based on the extreme wear you see on some spoons, this must have been the case.

  2. Tip wear is almost always found on the same side of the bowl because everyone used to be "right-handed". In the past, left-handedness was considered a major behavioral flaw that had to be corrected. As a result, most people did everything right-handed, even if it wasn't natural for quite a few people.
  3. If you look closely at the underside of old tablespoon bowls, you can usually see a pattern of distinct scratches perpendicular to the bowl on the worn side. These were made by people's teeth, and are a great clue to age and authenticity.

  4. People did eat just about everything with a tablespoon, including soups, stews and porridges.

  5. As far as I know, a tablespoon is still part of a standard 5 piece place setting. Am I wrong?

Brent

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akgdc

Posts: 289
Registered: Sep 2001

iconnumber posted 09-17-2001 12:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for akgdc     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks for the further insights, Brent. I'd never considered the "kitchen duty" you mention. And henceforth I'll be checking all my spoons for tooth marks.

In response to your last point, what I meant was that I wondered when the old-fashioned massive tablespoons -- you know, the ones you could club a seal with -- were replaced by more manageable soup spoons.

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Trefid

Posts: 96
Registered: Nov 99

iconnumber posted 09-18-2001 03:25 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Trefid     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This is quite parenthetical to the discussion, but I've inherited my grandmother's two large wooden stirring spoons. Both she and I are left-handed, and her spoons are not only satiny smooth but also perfectly fitted for my use because they are both worn to a flat plane on the right side. I love using them and think of her often when I do!

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akgdc

Posts: 289
Registered: Sep 2001

iconnumber posted 09-20-2001 01:30 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for akgdc     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I found this interesting comment on the common person's diet in the 18th century by the distinguished Princeton historian Robert Darnton. People 200 years ago "really did live by bread alone," he notes, and goes on to say:

"People did not go to the local bakery and just buy a baguette, which they would eat immediately. Although the baguette is just invented around this time, actually in the middle of the 18th century, they typically bought this four- pound loaf of bread. They would boil water and they would then chop up bits of bread into it. Sometimes they would rub garlic or lard around the kettle when they boiled it. And they would make it into a kind of broth, hence in Mother Goose, you know, you say "Pease porridge hot, Pease porridge cold, Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old." Nine days old. I mean, you took this loaf of bread, made it into porridge, and for nine days you were eating it."

Nine-day-old porridge? Sounds like enough to take the edge off the sturdiest tablespoon.

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