Bouillon Spoons: Exploring the Elegance and Practicality
A bouillon spoon is a type of spoon mainly used for soup. It is a round spoon rather than an oval, its curve designed to match the rounded edge of a soup bowl. Stock spoons have short handles, usually between 5 and 5-1/2 inches long. The round bowl of the bouillon spoon is too wide to fit comfortably in the mouth, so the soup is sipped from the side of the bowl.
Restaurant Supply offers various bouillon spoons to find the perfect pattern for your food service establishment. Made from different category of unstained steel, you will need to select the bouillon spoons best suited for your dining room experience. Bouillon spoons from 18/10 and 18/8 stainless steel grades have a brighter luster and resist stains longer than any flatware made from 18/0 stainless steel. However, all three stages of stainless steel bouillon spoons are comparable in strength, so if cost is a consideration, look into 18/0 grade bouillon spoons.
The bouillon spoon is best suited for serving small portions or side dishes with its small and oval-shaped bowl. It would not be appropriate for use with a heavy stew or soup served as the main course. If you serve sandwiches with a small bowl or cup of soup, the smaller bouillon spoon is more compatible in size with the cup rather than the more formal and more giant, standard oval-bowl soup spoon.
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Boullion Spoons History
Danish architect Arne Jacobsen designed the spoon in the late 1950s for use in one of his architectural projects, the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. Oxford English Dictionary defines a bouillon spoon as “a utensil consisting essentially of a straight handle with a hollowed end-piece used for conveying soft or liquid food to the mouth.”
At the time, hotels tried to outdo each other with elaborately decorated silver-plated cutleries. Jacobsen wanted to ensure that each knife, fork, or spoon performed its necessary function well.
Stanley Kubrick insisted on using them as props in his sci-fi epic “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Much of the support in the movie was designed to look suitably futuristic, but Kubrick was convinced they already did. I think it’s amazing how such small pieces can be so versatile and handy in a pinch!
Designer Thomas Jacobsen has created a spoon that is light, slender, and comfortable to hold. He made it asymmetrical so that if the spoon slips in your hand, the soup falls away from you rather than toward you. Jacobsen chose the precise size of the end-piece to deliver a perfectly judged quantity of soup to the mouth.
Different Shapes and Structures of Bouillon Spoons
1. The Western Shape of the Bouillon Spoon
The modern soup spoon is smaller than a tablespoon and similar in size and shape to a dessert spoon. However, the depth of the soup spoon is more profound than a dessert spoon, and the figure is more circular. This allows the scoop to hold liquid without spilling. In the past, spoons were made from horns or wood. Today, most soup spoons are made from silver or stainless steel.
2. Chinese Shape of Bouillon Spoon
This type of spoon’s durability and flat bottom make it an excellent option for any kitchen. The spoon size can vary from average to a large platter, making it versatile for multiple uses. The soup spoon set in this type comprises twelve soup spoons of Asian style, typically brightly colored and made of good quality ceramic material.
3. Ladle Shape of Bouillon Spoon
Bouillon spoons are explicitly designed for use with bouillon, a type of broth or soup. They have a deep, oval-shaped bowl that is perfect for scooping up bouillon, and their long handles make them easy to use. One of the most distinctive features of bouillon spoons is their ladle-like shape, allowing them to easily scoop up bouillons without spillage
Material Used in Making Bouillon Spoon
A bouillon spoon is a type of spoon used for broth or bouillon. It is a small spoon with a deep bowl and a long handle. Bouillon spoons are made from various materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Metal bouillon spoons are the most common type and are made from various metals, including stainless steel, silver, and aluminum. Plastic and wood bouillon spoons are less common, but some still use them.