What are the different applications for differently shaped wooden spoons?

Question

A while back I got a set of wooden spoons that contained 5 differently shaped wooden spoons. Take a look at the following photo to see the different shapes.

I have mainly been using wooden spoon #1 because that is typically the shape I am most familiar with when I think of a wooden spoon. I have yet to figure out what the other wooden spoons can be used for.

Are there any specific applications that each shape excel at?

Asked by Jay

Answer

Great question!

Adding to the others:

4 and 5 appear to me home-made modifications of standard Chinese bamboo spatulas in order to use them for different purposes.

4 is probably intended to be a wooden fork, which would be useful for tossing pasta (together with another wooden fork or spatula). However, the homemade slotting is too narrow, and the "tines" to wide, to be really useful. You'd want something more like this:

5 is, as rumtscho mentioned, a folding spoon for dough. This one seems to be improvised out of a spatula, though; the more common shapes of folding spoons are like either of the below:

I think I might disagree with rumtscho about spoon #1 though. I use wooden spoons all the time for cooking and mixing, especially in non-stick pans. If what she's saying, though is that particular wooden spoon is not very well shaped, then I agree with her. The bowl of the spoon is too shallow, and you'd want a round handle rather than a flat one.

Answered by FuzzyChef

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