If it wasnt blatantly obvious, we love knives. Its literally in our name. Knives are one of the most essential tools in any chef or home cooks kit, but did you know there are a couple of other tools that chefs are equally particular about? Spoons are easily the next item in that hierarchy. Think about the tattoos on the cooks you know; besides knives, butcher guides, and veggies, spoons are on a lot of burnt forearms out there. As ex-chefs, we are thrilled to have found one of the best spoons ever made: Gestura. As soon as you get one of these spoons in your hand, itll all make sense. The amount of thought and consideration that has gone into making these perfect tools is immediately evident.
Look at it. Its perfect. Like an alien obelisk of culinary perfection, arrived on earth to teach apes the secrets of haute cuisine.
When I was still behind the stove every night, I had a collection of spoons that I guarded ferociously. I had painstakingly collected them over many years: They were pilfered from my Grandma’s cutlery drawer, picked up at antique shops, I’ll even admit to having lifted one or two from the dining rooms of some very nice restaurants (DO NOT DO THIS). I was always on the lookout for the next great spoon for my collection.
The humble spoon is one of the most valuable tools in a chefs kit.
A spoon is like an artist’s brush in the kitchen; you use it to draw lines, make beautiful pools of sauce, and so much more. The new Gestura is even more versatile, like nothing Ive seen before. First, Its a measuring vessel with the bowl designed to be precisely one tablespoon (super handy), and its flat lip makes levelling dry ingredients a breeze. Pan roasting something delicious? Don’t forget to baste, baste, baste! A healthy drenching in hot fat makes everything better. The depth of the bowl on this beauty will help you lovingly coat whatever your heart desires. It’s also long, measuring up at 9 inches so that it can get to the bottom of a saucepot with ease, and its pointed tip can comfortably get into the corners to capture every last bit of deliciousness.
A good spoon can be used as an artistic tool, elevating the presentation of a dish.
At Knifewear, we love outstanding performance but were also suckers for pretty things; just look at all of our flashy Japanese knives. In addition to its function, Gestura has nailed the look of this spoon. Its inspired by the well-loved flea market cookware and antique silhouettes that fill so many professional kits, as pretty as it is practical. This spoon will make a great addition to my collection, and you should probably get one too!
In the past few years, theyve expanded the range to include slotted spoons, and gold-plated models! I have both, but I always reach for the gold one first because it just feels like a treat to use. Their slotted options are perfect for lifting poached eggs from water, olives from a jar, and so much more. Theyre also great for whacking knuckles on grabby hands, hands off my mise. If you know, you know.
Well, sauce spoons have extensive kitchen credentials; they’re frequently wielded by chefs and cooks to create a perfect swoosh of puree or to drizzle a dark, rich jus over a meltingly tender short rib. And while chefs love them for, well, saucing, we at Serious Eats also love them—for a myriad of other reasons.
I had never used a Kunz spoon until I got my first job in a test kitchen, where everyone seemed to know and love this very particular implement; just a few months later, I was fully on board the bandwagon. Designed by the late chef and restaurateur Gray Kunz in the early ’90s (it was originally just for the the other cooks who worked with him at Manhattan’s Lespinasse), this spoon is oversized (it holds 2.5 tablespoons), relatively shallow, and comes to the slightest point at the tip, which makes it the perfect tool for a wide variety of tasks.
To be clear, kitchen spoons are not the ones you use to eat or measure ingredients. They are the spoons you reach for again and again to aid in meal prep, dinner plating, baking projects, and entertaining—the do-it-all (or do-one-thing-very-well) utensils you could not cook without. In this category, I think there are only five kinds of spoons that you absolutely need; the rest can hit the donation box.
I think wooden spoons are generally overrated, but that doesn’t mean you should forgo them altogether. For some kitchen tasks, like making gravy from chicken drippings in a cast-iron skillet (specific!), only a wooden spoon with do. What you don’t need is an army of wooden spoons in a ton of shapes and sizes that are warped and stained because (a) they’re cheap, (b) you don’t take care of them, or (c) both.
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Chefs claim the Kunz spoon is ideal for flipping, stirring, tasting, and forming flawless quenelles, but in my house it gets the most use as a saucing MVP. Delicate drizzling, artful smothering, purposeful basting, and generally getting sauce exactly where I want it to go—this is the Kunz spoon calling, which means it gets pulled from the utensil crock at least once a day. Side note: It also makes a great serving spoon, so there’s no need to buy a separate set of oversized utensils just for when you have company.
If it wasnt blatantly obvious, we love knives. Its literally in our name. Knives are one of the most essential tools in any chef or home cooks kit, but did you know there are a couple of other tools that chefs are equally particular about? Spoons are easily the next item in that hierarchy. Think about the tattoos on the cooks you know; besides knives, butcher guides, and veggies, spoons are on a lot of burnt forearms out there. As ex-chefs, we are thrilled to have found one of the best spoons ever made: Gestura. As soon as you get one of these spoons in your hand, itll all make sense. The amount of thought and consideration that has gone into making these perfect tools is immediately evident.
In the past few years, theyve expanded the range to include slotted spoons, and gold-plated models! I have both, but I always reach for the gold one first because it just feels like a treat to use. Their slotted options are perfect for lifting poached eggs from water, olives from a jar, and so much more. Theyre also great for whacking knuckles on grabby hands, hands off my mise. If you know, you know.
Look at it. Its perfect. Like an alien obelisk of culinary perfection, arrived on earth to teach apes the secrets of haute cuisine.
At Knifewear, we love outstanding performance but were also suckers for pretty things; just look at all of our flashy Japanese knives. In addition to its function, Gestura has nailed the look of this spoon. Its inspired by the well-loved flea market cookware and antique silhouettes that fill so many professional kits, as pretty as it is practical. This spoon will make a great addition to my collection, and you should probably get one too!
A good spoon can be used as an artistic tool, elevating the presentation of a dish.
The Best Wooden Spoons
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