40 Fun Facts About Kitchen Tools and Utensils

Which kitchen appliance did Percy Spencer develop after a radar set melted the candy bar in his pocket?

The microwave oven's first deliberately cooked food was popcorn. The second was an egg, which exploded in the face of one of the experimenters.

Which kitchen tool was first patented in 1855, after decades of people using a hammer and chisel instead?

The can opener arrived long after canned food itself. Early tins carried the instruction to cut round the top near the outer edge with a chisel and hammer.

Which brand of kitchen zester began as a wood-carving rasp made by the Grace brothers?

Microplane only moved into kitchens after discovering that cooks were buying its woodworking rasps to zest citrus. The company still sells rasps to woodworkers.

Which kitchen appliance did Josephine Cochrane unveil at the 1893 World's Fair after building it in her tool shed?

The dishwasher exists because Cochrane, a wealthy socialite, was tired of servants damaging her good china when they washed it by hand.

Which food-storage brand, founded by a former DuPont employee, was sold at home parties run by Brownie Wise?

Tupperware parties let women of the 1950s earn an independent income without holding a regular job, and Wise rose to vice president of marketing.

Which sealed cooking pot descends from the steam digester that French physicist Denis Papin invented in 1679?

The pressure cooker began as Papin's attempt to cut the cooking time of food. He presented the device to the Royal Society of London in 1681.

Which non-stick pan coating did DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett discover by accident in 1938?

Teflon gave its name to the first non-stick pans, sold as Tefal: 'Tef' from the coating and 'al' from aluminium.

Which glass bakeware brand grew out of heat-proof glass first developed for railroad signal lanterns?

Pyrex proved itself in the kitchen when Bessie Littleton baked in a cut-down battery jar after her ceramic casserole dish broke.

Which fluted ring-shaped cake pan did Nordic Ware nearly discontinue before a 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off made it a hit?

The Bundt pan took off after a cake called the Tunnel of Fudge took second place at the Bake-Off and home bakers flooded Pillsbury with requests for the pan.

Which screw-threaded glass canning jar is named after the New Jersey tinsmith who invented and patented it?

The Mason jar spread quickly once John Landis Mason's patent expired, when many other glassmakers began producing the same design for home canning.

Which perforated kitchen bowl takes its name from the Latin word for sieve?

The colander gets its name from colum, Latin for sieve. Some cooking pots come with a mated one inside, so food drains as it is lifted out.

Which wire kitchen tool was once simply a bundle of apple twigs, which lent the dish a fragrance?

The whisk is now most often a balloon, a wide teardrop of wire loops whose curved edges fit the sides of a mixing bowl.

Which round-bottomed pan gives stir-fries a smoky flavour whose name means breath of the pan?

The wok produces that charred flavour, called wok hei, only when food is tossed over a fierce open flame. Non-stick versions cannot reproduce it.

Which ancient grinding pair is called molcajete and tejolote in Mexico and suribachi and surikogi in Japan?

The mortar and pestle take their English names from Latin: mortarium, a receptacle for pounding, and pistillum, a pounder.

Which kitchen slicer has an adjustable blade that food is pushed across by hand to cut even slices?

The mandoline cuts slices of uniform thickness far faster than a knife. With extra blades it also turns out julienne strips and crinkle cuts.

What is the baked-on layer of polymerized fat that protects a cast-iron skillet from rust called?

Seasoning is built up by heating very thin coats of oil until they bond to the metal, leaving a surface that repels water and resists sticking.

Which metallic element, at 10.5% or more, gives stainless steel pans and cutlery their resistance to rust?

Chromium forms a thin protective film on the surface of the steel, and the film can heal itself when exposed to oxygen.

Which thick-walled pot with a tight-fitting lid is usually called a casserole dish in Britain?

The Dutch oven is said to owe its name to Abraham Darby, who studied sand-mould casting in the Netherlands before making cheaper iron pots in England.

Which stand mixer brand did the Hobart company launch in 1919 after testing prototypes on factory executives' wives?

KitchenAid got its name when one of those wives said she did not care what the machine was called: it was the best kitchen aid she had ever had.

Which everyday kitchen tool is the Rex, a 1947 Swiss design icon later honoured on a postage stamp?

The Rex vegetable peeler was invented by Alfred Neweczerzal of Davos. Sweden's rival Jonas design of 1953 has a straight handle that is held like a knife.

Which general-purpose Japanese knife was created in the 1940s to combine the virtues of three traditional knives?

The santoku has a name read as a nod to three ingredients (fish, meat and vegetables) or three tasks (chopping, dicing and slicing).

Which curved herb-chopping blade with a handle at each end is rocked back and forth over the ingredients?

The mezzaluna takes its Italian name, meaning half moon, from the curve of its blade. Very large single-blade versions are sometimes used to cut pizza.

Which wide wire-mesh skimmer on a long handle do East Asian cooks use to lift hot food from liquid?

The spider is named after its wire pattern, which looks like a web. It is also used to skim the foam off simmering broths.

Which very hot overhead grill, like an oven without a door, do professional kitchens use to brown and finish dishes?

The salamander takes its name from a mythical amphibian thought to be immune to fire, by way of an 18th-century tool for toasting the top of a dish.

Which conical, extremely fine-mesh sieve did French cooks name for its resemblance to an Asian hat?

The chinois is also called a bouillon strainer. A coarser cousin with much larger holes is known in English as the China cap.

Which gentle hot-water bath, used to melt chocolate without splitting it, is named after an ancient alchemist?

The bain-marie has a name meaning Mary's bath: the alchemist Zosimos credited the device to Mary the Jewess. Cheesecakes are often baked in one to stop the top cracking.

Which North African earthenware pot has a cone-shaped lid that returns condensation to the food below?

The tagine gives its name to the Moroccan stew braised inside it, and the lid means the cook needs only a minimal amount of water.

Which rod kept in many knife blocks maintains an already sharp edge and is commonly mistaken for a sharpener?

A honing steel is for frequent upkeep of an edge that is already sharp, so many cooks use one each time they pick up a knife. A truly blunt blade needs sharpening instead.

Which kitchen tool did Norwegian carpenter Thor Bjørklund patent in 1925 after experimenting with his woodworking plane?

The cheese slicer became an important Norwegian export product, and Bjørklund's design is found today in many households across the Nordic countries.

What is the portion of a kitchen knife blade that extends into the handle, adding stability and weight, called?

The tang is sandwiched between two pieces of handle material known as scales, which are usually held in place by three metal rivets.

Which slow cooker brand began as the Naxon Beanery, inspired by a grandmother's long-simmered Jewish stew?

Crock-Pot was the name the Rival Company gave the cooker in 1971, a year after buying Naxon and its 1940 patent for a bean simmerer.

Which popular countertop appliance, launched as a Philips brand in 2010, is really a small convection oven?

The air fryer cooks by fanning hot air around food, the same principle as the fan ovens in wide use since 1945. A French firm sold an earlier version in 2006.

Which type of cooktop heats only pans containing a magnetic metal, leaving plain copper or aluminium ones cold?

Induction hobs run an alternating current through a coil of copper wire, and the magnetic field it creates makes the pan itself generate the heat.

Which cookware brand, founded in France in 1925, made its first enamelled cast-iron piece in an orange called Flame?

Le Creuset was started by two Belgians, a casting specialist and an enamelling specialist, who opened their foundry at Fresnoy-le-Grand.

Which appliance did French salesman Pierre Verdon devise after watching caterers spend hours chopping and shredding?

The food processor reached North America in 1973, when Carl Sontheimer reworked and rebranded Verdon's Robot-Coupe machine as the Cuisinart.

Which Japanese company launched the ER-4, the first automatic electric rice cooker for home use, in the 1950s?

Toshiba built a cooker that switched itself off once a thermostat sensed the water had boiled away. Its success sparked a manufacturing war among rival firms.

Which rattan basket gives shaped bread loaves structure while proofing and wicks moisture from the crust?

The banneton becomes more non-stick with use, as a little flour builds up in it. The loaf is normally tipped out before baking.

Which Boston Cooking School principal championed level cup and spoon measurements in her 1896 cookbook?

Fannie Farmer paid for the first edition herself, because the publisher expected poor sales and limited it to 3,000 copies.

Which rod-shaped wooden Scottish kitchen tool, dating from the 15th century, is used to stir porridge without lumps?

The spurtle lends its name to the Golden Spurtle, the main prize at the World Porridge Making Championship.

Which small mat woven from bamboo and cotton string do Japanese cooks use to shape rolled sushi?

The makisu also shapes soft foods such as tamagoyaki omelette, and some cooks wrap it in plastic film first to make cleaning easier.