Copper Kitchen Utensils

Copper kitchen utensils

Ladles, skimmers, strainers, serving spoons and salt cellars, the everyday pieces, live in this category. Because a copper handle conducts heat, long-handled models are the sensible choice; a short-handled ladle is hard to hold over a boiling pot. All food-contact surfaces are tin-lined.

What each one does

A skimmer's perforations lift boiled food out of its water, the tool for mantı and pasta. A strainer has a fine mesh and earns its place with tea and strained yoghurt. Serving spoons move rice and stews from pot to plate. Long-handled pieces run 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 in).

• Ladle: 100 to 150 ml in the bowl, one serving of soup per lift
• Skimmer: perforated, for lifting food out of liquid and taking foam off a stock
• Strainer: fine mesh, for tea and for straining yoghurt
• Serving spoon: flat bowl, rice and stews
• Salt cellar: a small lidded vessel, kept closed and kept dry

Why copper here

A copper ladle will not melt against the side of a hot pot the way a plastic one does, and it will not scratch a tin lining the way steel does. That second point is the real argument. If your pots are tin-lined copper, the tools that go into them should be soft-edged or wooden, and hammered copper with rolled edges qualifies.

These pieces also read well on a rail. Many customers hang them within reach of the stove, which is where they should live anyway, since hanging is the best way to dry them.

Handles are riveted or brazed on, and that join is where a cheap utensil fails first. On our long-handled pieces the handle is set into the bowl and worked over by hand, so there is no open seam for water to sit in and start a stain from the inside out.

Use and care

Do not leave a utensil resting in a hot pan: the copper handle heats up and will burn your hand. Wash and dry immediately after use; left wet, these pieces darken. Water sits in perforations and mesh, so hanging them to dry works best. A dishwasher wears the tin, wash by hand. Check the joint where the handle meets the bowl once in a while; a loosened joint can be re-fixed rather than replaced.