The Ladle

This month the focus in the workshop has been on spoons and after the indulgent Christmas period we have been rediscovering the simple joy and unbeatable practicality of the ladle.

While waiting for the Spring weather to arrive, we’ve been keeping our spirits up by teaming our new collection of ladles with good honest home-cooking. Nothing gets everyone round the table like a nice hot pot of chilli and we like to serve ours in the ‘5-ways’ Cincinnati style with five garnishes (for the original Delia Smith recipe click here). This is a colourful, warming meal with lots of dishes on the table and for each dish we have a ladle to match!

For the chilli itself our big 12″ ladle is perfect for delving right to the bottom of the pot to scoop out that last tasty helping. The deep bowl allows for a generous portion and the gorgeous goose-necked handle sits comfortably in the hand while you’re serving.

Its partner, the 5″ silver ladle, is ideal for adding a dollop of soured cream to your plate to take the edge off the hot spices.

If you’re not a fan of red kidney beans, warmed pinto beans are a great accompaniment to chilli and our new silver side-ladle is just the thing for serving them. The ‘crank’ in the neck allows it to rest gently against the side of the bowl when you’re not serving.

Anyone who feels they want a bit extra can help themselves to rice using our loop-handled rice scoop. The shape of the handle encourages a firm grip, the large round bowl allows for the perfect portion and the curve in the neck means you can rest the scoop on the edge of the dish when you’re done!

It’s exactly this kind of satisfying spread that reminds us what is so brilliant about ladles – they can be hot-forged in all sorts of shapes and sizes; big, small, left-handed, right-handed, and used to serve anything you like from soup to punch to stew.