Edible/Usable

Sustainability and a Scrimshaw Pastry Crimper

In my search for unique vintage kitchen tools, I got this fantastic scrimshaw pastry crimper (I actually bought it from a collector friend of mine).  I secretly have a crush on this little sailor.  He is so handsome and fine-featured.  And even though I'm sure that it is perfectly functional as a tool (though I haven't actually crimped any pastry with it), to me it is much more valuable as a piece of art.  I haven't had it evaluated for authenticity, age or it's provenance (hello Antiques Roadshow!), but the basic web only research I've done about it has gotten me thinking about the (possible) history of this specific artifact, the tools we use to make food, and how this object's history relates to what's going on in the food industry right now.

Scrimshaw is the folk art and craft of carving objects out of or etching drawings into the various byproducts of the whaling industry, including teeth (whale and walrus) and bone.   Scrimshaw was originally practiced by sailors on long whaling voyages - some of which lasted for years.  It was the "pastime of lonely and often dispirited seamen far from home".  The most common forms of scrimshaw were nautical scenes etched into whale teeth (JFK was apparently a big collector of this type of scrimshaw), but scrimshanders (makers of scrimshaw) also carved many useful and decorative objects such as napkin rings, bodkins, canes, toys, spoons and pastry crimpers (also often referred to as jagging wheels) and other kitchen implements.  I think that the crimper I have is made from whale ivory, partly carved, partly constructed from carved pieces.  I'd like to think that my sailor pastry crimper, if authentic, was made by a bored and homesick sailor as a gift for his wife back home in Massachusetts, who used it to make beautiful fruit pies.

From the early 18th through the mid 19th century, the American whaling industry grew to be one of the preeminent industries in the country.  At it's peak, reached in the mid 1800's, there were 736 whaling vessels registered under the American flag in the 'Yankee' fleet alone.  Hundreds of whaling voyages each year brought back hundreds of thousands of gallons of whale oil derived from whale blubber.  Whale oil was used as lamp oil, in lighthouses, to light city streets and to make candles.   Sperm whale oil, oil derived from the waxy substance "spermaceti" found in the head of sperm whales was even more valuable and useful because it burned much cleaner and had a wider range of uses including soap, cosmetics, pharmaceutical compounds and specialized machine lubricants. 

Other whale byproducts including teeth (ivory), bones, ambergris (a flammable and waxy substance found in sperm whale digestive tracts) and whale baleen, (flexible but sturdy keratin plates baleen whales use for feeding - the 'plastic of the 1800's') were harvested and used to create multiple different products including tools, mens collar stays, women's corsets, toys and utensils.  Scrimshaw pieces were also traded and bartered in ports of call around the globe.

Most species of whales are now either considered endangered or vulnerable due to this history of commercial whaling. Whaling continued in various forms through into the 20th century when the International Whaling Commission was set up in 1946 to "provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus "make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry," but their success and influence is debatable. Greenpeace regularly documents Japanese whaling boats that are purportedly catching whales for 'scientific' purposes.

Kitchen Tools - Old and New

I've been thinking a lot lately about kitchen tools.  Partly because I've been working at an office that's practically next door to Sur La Table, and sometimes after work or on the way back to the office during lunch, I'll pop in and take a look around.  Kitchen stores for me are like a proverbial candy store for a kid.  My eyes go wide, my palms go sweaty and I think about what I can cook that will justify buying some fancy new tool.  And Sur La Table is full of the best and fanciest kitchen tools.  But like most people in New York, I have relatively little storage space, so I really do try to keep my kitchen tool buying to a minimum (the tools that I don't use as often have already migrated out of my kitchen cabinets and into the wall unit in my living room).

The other reason I've been thinking about kitchen tools is because I've gone out to flea markets in Pennsylvania for a few weekends already this spring.  Flea markets are always full of old kitchen tools.  Some treated reverently as artifacts of a former age, others treated like old pieces of junk, all piled together in a cardboard box with a magic marker scrawl "Anything in this box: $1.00."  I have actually started a small collection of vintage kitchen tools, but like any collecting urge, it's a slippery slope.  Before you know it, my kitchen wall will look like this:

 

What I've found especially interesting is how much kitchen tools have NOT changed over time.  Except for electric mixers superseding hand egg beaters, and the more recent use of silicone as a material that many kitchen tools are now made of, a potato masher now still looks like a potato masher did 60 years ago.  Same with a whisk, a rolling pin, a pastry mixer.   And functionally, they are still the same. 

In 1990 (I'm totally freaking out right now because I just realized 1990 was almost 20 years ago...) a company called OXO debuted a line of kitchen products that were designed using the principals of universal design - the principle that objects should be designed to be useful to the greatest number of people - with a focus on making kitchen tools that were easy and pleasant to use.  They have a great line of products, and I think definitely influenced how cooks and designers thought about kitchen tools.  (Three OXO items, the paring knife, the vegetable peeler and the jar opener, are in MOMA's Architecture and Design collection.)  But functionally, these tools are not that different than some of the tools that have existed for decades. 

(Three vegetable peelers that I have vs. the OXO Good Grips peeler:  a basic cheapo peeler that was probably the first peeler I ever bought, a peeler with a handmade wooden handle that I got at a fleamarket, a newer peeler that I bought recently.  The OXO vegetable peeler)

For me, this just goes to show that incremental usability improvements, especially ones that are based on user testing and evaluation of specific user needs are just as or more important as giant re-designs that change a product significantly. 

Why do I have three vegetable peelers?  That is another question entirely.  Possibly because the first cheapo one wasn't sharp enough anymore, so I bought the red one.  The wooden one I bought because it looks and feels nice.  But in general, my new goal is to not buy new kitchen equipment and make do with what I have.   Here are some good tips on the essential tools for any small kitchen, and ideas on how to put your kitchen on a diet.  This is obviously how many of those kitchen tools ended up at a flea market.

Useful Things I'll Never Use - ACME Egg Grader

I'm hoping that this can be a re-occurring feature here - things that I think would be useful or have something interesting and pleasant about them - specifically related to food and food things - but that I will probably never have the chance to actually use.

The thing in this case is an ACME Egg Grader:

  What is an egg grader you ask?  This type of egg grader was used by small egg producers to determine the weight of a dozen eggs.   When you put an egg on the scale, the scale reads the number of ounces 12 eggs of the same size and weight would weigh. 

This would allow a small egg producer to pack a dozen eggs of roughly the same size and weight.

In this case, 12 of these eggs would weigh 26 ounces.   Here's a handy chart of how many ounces specific egg sizes weigh (think jumbo, extra large,large, etc).  

  Egg GRADES are actually different.  Go look at the carton of eggs in your fridge.  Most likely, you've got either Grade AA or Grade A eggs.  There is such a thing as Grade B eggs, but those usually aren't sold in stores, but are sold to bakeries and food processors instead.  What's the difference between grades?  Looking at the egg grader, you would think that an egg's grade is determined by it's weight - but grades are about the quality and freshness of the egg - measured in Haugh units.

 A Grade AA egg "will stand up tall. The yolk is firm and the area covered by the white is small. There is a large proportion of thick white to thin white."  A Grade B egg "spreads out more. The yolk is flattened and there is about as much (or more) thin white as thick white." (And just in case you were wondering, "traffic in eggs is regulated under the federal Egg Products Inspection Act (1970).")

I found this egg grader at a flea market in Pennsylvania, and what I really like about this it actually has nothing to do with eggs.  I really like the way it looks, and I makes a really nice sound when you push it up and down. 

Obviously, commercial egg concerns use automated machines to sort and grade eggs.  Of course, there are a few videos of this on YouTube - I like this one because it's sort of arty and mesmerizing (though I agree with the commenter that they really need to clean their grader!)

Props to whoever can tell me what the eggs spell out at the end.