Hang around chefs, or read profiles of them, long enough and eventually you'll hear one mention how much they love their Gray Kunz spoon. We couldn't believe how many chefs actually included this spoon in their list of favorite kitchen tools. A spoon? And a $10 one at that? What's the deal?
There's more to this spoon than meets the eye. It was designed by Chef Gray Kunz back when he was heading up Lespinasse in New York City and was originally only given to chefs who worked in his kitchen.
The proportions of the spoon are a little different than average. The bowl is larger, holding an exact 2.5 tablespoons, and it has a slightly tapered edge. That edge makes it more of a precision tool when it comes to shaping quenelles of foam or even just flipping fish on the griddle. The handle is also shorter and narrower, nine inches from tip to tale and ostensibly making the spoon easier to control.
This spoon can be used for everything under the sun. Saucing dishes, tasting a soup, prying open jars, measuring spices, flipping, stirring, and probably a whole lot more.
But is this spoon really necessary? It's a useful tool, no doubt, but we're guessing much of the popularity of this spoon has to do with its mystique in the chef world. Chefs can be as superstitious as baseball players, and there are probably many who won't start a dinner service without this spoon firmly and lovingly tucked into their sleeve pocket.
• Find It! Gray Kunz Sauce Spoon, $9.90 from JB Prince
Do you have a Gray Kunz spoon? Do you think its worth the hype?
Related: Egg Gear: Michael Ruhlman's $27 Bad Ass Egg Spoon
(Image: JB Prince)
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But is this spoon *really* necessary?
In a word, no.
There is no spoon.
That special, I mean. I'm guessing *most* general cooks (home cooking is what this blog is generally about, isn't it?) don't need that kind of precision of exactly 2.5 tablespoons.
for home chefs that is pretty absurd, but if it were my job to prepare food 8+ hours a day 260 days a year then a ten dollar tool that made my job even slightly easier would be well worth it.
The only reason $10 seems high is because we're so used to being able to buy tons of cheap stuff at Target for a fraction of the price. On the other hand, $10 for a well designed tool you could use for the rest of your life (even when you're just cooking at home) seems like quite a deal.
/agree with Holler, doing architectural drawings at university could have been done with a $0.15 pencil but I understood the nuances of difference with the $3 version that made standing over the drafting table for 15hours at a time that much more possible(and now that pencil is digital and $3000).
I'd imagine the same is true for a tool like this, it's fun to know about the little things I might not think of or notice as an amateur.
@randomname - Had the same thought (no spoon). :)
I get this with professional chefs but yea...not so much for home cooks. Trust me, once you're on your feet the better part of a day chopping, stirring and cooking in a professional kitchen, you'd cut the person who tried to take the knife, ladle, spoon you liked best. So a fancy spoon can be a personal thing too. We always had to taste as we went (but we had cups of spoons for one shot tastings to be washed after so you're not licking all over a spoon, tucking it in your pocket and licking again later all in food people will eat!) Plus, if you're shaping quenelles all day, yes a proper spoon is important! I'd pay the 10 bucks just for that. I never saw a chef have/mention one of these though.
If you value good tools, and this fits your style of doing things - why not? Especially if it will give you pleasure each time that you use it. Good tools contribute to the value and self-satisfaction of a job well done - and this applies to carpenters and mechanics as well.
For those who must obsess over the spoon/$$ aspect - go to Goodwill and for $10 get a bucket full of spoons.
As an amateur cook my take on this is that it is the same appeal as the $100+ pen for business executives. You don't need it, but it gives a feeling of status among peers.
That being said, I now want one. :-)
That's funny, when reading the article I thought that you were commenting on professional chefs using such a cheap tool because most sturdy kitchen equipment is more expensive... don't think I need one, but I know whom to give it to as a present! Thanks!
Oh, my goodness. My husband and I both worked for Gray in the early nineties, opening Lespinasse in NYC. And those spoons! Yes, he was nuts for those spoons. My husband is still a chef and speaks fondly of the spoons. It's wild and hilarious to me that they're not appearing on The Kitchen.
Oops -- I meant "now" appearing on The Kitchen.com!
phoxx and tristanc:
I couldn't agree with you more. Thank you for your posts.
My perspective on this has been shaped by having lived in Europe for the past 4 years, where everything is better designed than in North America, something I appreciate. Good design stretches from something as simple as a well-shaped and functional spoon, to urban design and planning which integrates landscaping and does away with ugly "in-between" urban spaces.
By and large in North America, we don't value good design, and are extremely frugal (some would argue "cheap") when it comes to spending money on it. No doubt a product of our impoverished immigrant roots and culture.
It's time we woke up to it though; life could be so much better if enhanced by the grace and beauty that good design can provide.
When I sit down to decorate 200 cookies, I have a spoon I use every time for flooding. I wish I could buy it for $10, this one is plastic and I picked it up at a coffee stand in the Munich airport (and brought it home) if it breaks I will sob...I search constantly for the perfect replacement! Falls into that great European engineering category I guess!
I am not a pro chef, but I love to cook, and I went immediately to JB Prince's site and ordered 2 - one for me and one for my friend.
It's not easy to find a good quenelling spoon, and let me say that you could get killed for even looking at another chef's spoon. And in an industry when you spend upwards of $200 for 1 good knife, your tools are an investment in your career. Can you still cook without expensive tools? Yes, but the results are very different, from quenelling, to cutting, to saucing a plate. It's all about the bowl of the spoon and how it feels in your hand.
I want one. Anyone seen a link to them in the UK?