How To Use Every Utensil | Method Mastery | Epicurious 

Thank you all for so many enthusiastic comments! I can’t manage to respond to each of you individually, so I want to highlight a few things here. First, a big shoutout to the kitchen staff at Epicurious-they did an awesome job with the food! I don’t have the recipe for the cherry pie but sure wish I did. Next, you’re right that I discuss the specifically American style of eating. The fork was originally kept in the left hand, first for stabilizing the food while cutting with a knife and then for getting the food into the mouth. This “continental” style is how most Europeans eat. I agree that it’s the most economical way to use the fork, and the way I often use it myself. When the design of the fork changed in the 18th century-more tines were added, and they were spaced closer together, with an upward curve-so did its manner of use. The French developed the method of transferring the fork from the left hand to the right for putting food into the mouth. This so-called “transfer” method was eventually adopted in the US-probably for reasons of pretension-and in the early 20th century the famous arbiter of etiquette, Emily Post, named it the “zigzag” method. For better or worse, it’s what we Americans seem to be stuck with. It would be great to have an episode on non-western eating utensils. Even for the western ones, we couldn’t begin to cover all the specialized forks, knives, and spoons that exist. If you look at the late 19th-century silver catalogs produced during America’s Gilded Age, they list as many as 55 different spoons, 50 different forks, and 32 knives-and that doesn’t include serving pieces. It was totally out of control! I loved your lively defense of the spork and agree that it’s perfect for backpacking. I just find it a struggle to use at receptions when I’m trying to balance a wine glass and still get food easily into my mouth. On caviar: it does seem counterintuitive that caviar would be sold in tins, but they’re lined with an edible film that protects the roe from any contact with the metal. On the gendering of utensils: because of its rounded shape and the fact that it’s used to feed infants and invalids, the spoon is associated with nurturing, with the maternal and feminine. The French royal chapel at Chateau de St Germain-en-Laye has a wonderful 17th-century painting of the Virgin Mary feeding the infant Jesus from a spoon. The fork was initially considered effeminate because it was introduced from Italy, where it had been used by courtesans who were seen as effete. Its use implied homosexuality, notably in regard to Henri III of France, who was a big fan of the new implement. He was mocked in Thomas Artus’s 1605 novel The Isle of the Hermaphrodites. As for the Catholic church, in addition to St. Peter Damian railing against the use of the fork, St. Bonaventure in the 13th century similarly blamed the death of the Byzantine princess from plague on her use of the fork, considering it “a just punishment from God.” Resistance to the fork was later strong among Protestants, too. You can find the Latin citations for saints Peter Damian and Bonaventure in Carolin Young’s essay, “The Sexual Politics of Cutlery,” in Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500-2005 (Assouline, 2006). This is the gorgeously illustrated catalog for the exhibition of the same name that I helped curate at the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Museum in 2005.

I like how she openly appreciates all the food that she likes, the food itself isn't highlighted in the video but I'm pretty sure whoever is preparing those meals is working really hard for a single shot etc. It's good to see she recognises the efforts

Alternative Title: How much of a peasant you are, explained in 22 minutes.

This was so interesting!! Thought I'd do a brief dive into Japanese, Chinese, Korean chopsticks too here just for fun! The real complexity with East Asian cuisine comes with table manners and etiquette, but who doesn't love a good chopstick so I hope someone enjoys this as well :D Chinese - Thicker and longer than the others - Longer because in Chinese cuisine, it is etiquette to share food, so ppl sit around large round tables with large dishes placed in the middle, and a long chopstick makes it easier to get food further away from you and also to grab food for other people - A lot of Chinese food is also oily, so a longer chopstick just keeps the oil further away from your hands! - The backs are more squarish and the tips are roundish, which is meant to symbolise the traditional Chinese philosophy, yin yang, that had a saying like "The sky is round and the earth is square/stable" (tian yuan di fang), that talks abt how the vast universe moves endlessly like a circle, and the earth carries us with stability, like a stable square (common in Chinese culture to have a lot of things represent different traditional philosophies/sayings etc!) - A wider, flat end is also to enable a more convenient way of eating rice. Chinese dont often use spoons to eat rce, so they usually eat rice by bringing their bowl to their lips and pushing the rice into their mouth with chopsticks or picking up small portions with chopsticks (similar to how a spoon would work, so the thickness of the chopstick is helpful in this respect), unlike Koreans who do commonly use spoons with chopsticks! Japanese - Shortest and sharper/more pointed than the Chinese chopstick - Often made out of bamboo/wood to accommodate the abundance of forests and low production of metals back then in Japan - Sharper because main Japanese diet consists of seafood, so a sharper tip makes it easier to pick the small bones of fish out ans it's also a more delicate touch for fish meat! - Shorter because they traditionally eat "set meals" (teishoku), wherein everyone has their own portion, so there is no need for a longer chopstick to grab main dishes that are shared like Chinese cuisine Korean - Mostly made of metal, flat and thin, medium length - Made of metal because back then, Korean royals used silver to detect if there was any poison in the food! - Metal/stainless steel also ensures the cutlery doesn't get stained by pickled/marinated food that are very common in Korean sidedishes - Often paired with a long metal spoon as well (this set is called "sujeo") because it's common in Korean cuisine to have a lot of soup dishes that go well with rice, so the spoon is for soup and rice and chopsticks for everything else - Flat and thin because that way, it's easier to tear apart pickled cabbage (kimchi), a staple side dish in Korean cuisine, and easy to grab small things like pickled radish and such which is further because of the wide range of little side dishes in Korean cuisine!

The way she threw shade at sporks and announced she'd have to eat all the caviar herself after sticking her spoon in it XD Darra was living her best life during this shoot! Love these videos :)

I had to laugh at the genuine reactions to the delicious food, brilliant

This is a very comprehensive video and it's really insightful. Not only she's giving us lessons about how to use utensils but she's also giving full lecture about food, table manner/etiquette, and on top of all that the history. She's such a wonderful and brilliant woman.

I just love it when she compliments the food and break character, i love her so much

love this so much. can we have a similar version for cups, plates and serving trays pleeeaaase?

I have no use for this information, but will be watching every second of it.

It's really interesting to see her change the fork to the right hand and rest the knife, because here in Europe/Germany it's different. We use the fork always in the left hand, the knife in the right hand, and we use both simultaneously

I have to admit that i watched this video right before I took my girlfriend and her parents to dinner in a fancy 5 star restaurant. This helped me so much, in fact it helped me impress my girlfriend's parents.

never in my life did i think i would see someone dragging a spork to filth but im so glad she did. speak your mind queen!!

Haha! I'm so glad she got to enjoy all the delicious food with her presentation, that's so fun.

"Oh noooo, I've put my spoon in the caviar! Guess I'll have to eat it all!" She's so charming, I love it!

It's probably worth mentioning the etymology of the word silverware has the root of silver. When rich people flexed with all their fancy forks and spoons and knives it wasn't just "Look how much etiquette and knowledge you need here," but also "Look at how much money I have". Silver is also fairly non-reactive so unlike modern nickel-plated silverware it didn't alter the taste of the food at all. Sometimes if you have very cheap silverware, you can taste the metallic nickel when you're eating.

I work at a Montessori school and we use a blunt fruit knife, a demitasse spoon and a oyster fork to teach toddlers how to eat using silverware. it's too cute🥰.

I love that she pretty much made a 20+ course degustation menu out of this vid.

I love her caution to not putting utensils that were in her mouth into common plates or dishes. People often call me crazy for that but not doing this is nasty.

My mom used to teach us etiquette lessons all my childhood. This was very well done for those who do not know the differences 😊

This is an informative piece. Hope you guys can do a quick history explaining chopsticks next 👍👍

I was very confused with the soup spoon as I had always been taught that they were round …. and then the bouillon spoon was revealed! Thank you!

This lady knows a lot about cutlery. I'm impressed there is too many of them haha. Amazing!

I used to think that I do not need to know all types of utensils as they only exist in high-class restaurant or rich family. But this video just drew my attention without any disruption for almost 22mins and I enjoyed it a lot! She presented everything in such an elegant way and I love that. After all, it is never useless to learn new things ^^. A great thank to the whole ekip!

my grandparents used parfait spoons to mix up the syrup and carbonated water in homemade sodas. They were always in tall glasses. My family owned a soda fountain from 1910-2015.

East Asians be like: A pair of chopsticks is enough. Other Asians be like: Your washed and cleaned right hand is enough.

I love the history and educational part of this topic. Understanding how things came to be and why brings appreciation and insight. More of this please.

i love how enthusiastic she is towards the history of kitchen utensils

In Europe (or at least in Italy) is considered unpolite to leave the knife onto the plate and swap the fork from left hand to right hand after every cut.

Sporks aren’t “good” for anything but they are decent for everything.

Every country has their own eating style and table manner and that present how much delicate person you are ... I really want to learn those all table manner .... thank you so much for making such a useful video

I enjoyed so much seeing her eating her food with such gratitude and pleasure, it is just so good watch a person enjoy a good meal. Makes me wanna eat something nice too.

I'm just a few minutes in an am loving the history going along with the video! Love it! Thank you

Next time I get invited for meat, fish and fruit at the governor's ball, I'll be ready! Everyone will be like, that gurl is just some nobody but damned if she didn't know how to use an oyster fork like a boss.

Omg she's so incredibly sweet! The way she kept praising the food, she's so adorable!

Loved this! Loved Darra's candor, charisma and gracefulness! Hope to see more of her! :)

The spork is useful only as a multi-purpose utensil in very specific circumstances. Backpacking, for example - most backpackers want to minimize their load as much as they reasonably can. One way they can do that is by carrying multi-purpose tools that are useful to them and weigh less than the individual tools they replace. A spork replaces the need for having separate fork and spoon, even if it is a less efficient version of both. The weight of a single spoon/fork isn't much on its own, but when you are carrying 50 different little things like that in your backpack, it adds up fast. If you can cut that down to 15 different little things that have multiple uses, that is a lot of saved weight and space.

One of the most useful videos on this subject I've ever seen, and I am old AF. As a kid, once in awhile due to my Dad's work we would go to formal dinners... and I was dazzled by the array of utensils. Later, in college, I worked as a water in a super-posh Chicago women's club, and had to learn ALL of these - we got tested on each! This brings back such memories!

Nooooo! The Splayd (the Aussie version of a spork) was a much-loved utensil - popular as a wedding gift between the end of WWII and the '70s. I adore them and will use them in preference to most other tools.

Very interesting and well presented! We have plenty of grapefruit spoons. They didn't start life as such, but the sink waste disposer took care of that.

Sporks are good for camping, when you don't want to pack more utensils, especially if they have the serrated cutting edge on one side.

Oh my god Darra Goldstein!!!! Wow!!! I took the YIVO class on Ashkenazi Jewish foodways last year and am just in awe at her knowledge and expertise. She's the best.

Her reactions to the food gave me life!!

A must watch for those who want to learn about table setting. Very informative. Well presented! Thank you Ms. Darra! ❤️

I agree with her about the spork at the table; kind of mostly a weird spoon and generally useless. BUT I've noticed it's utility as a camping utensil/trend (time will tell) often including the original one serrated edge design. It CAN come in handy, more so than regular spoon shapes, for camp foods that may be cooked in pots or dutch ovens, eaten in bowls, and can be thick, robust, and/or often scoopable in a way that the tines at the end can grab in and deliver a good mouthful. The problem is that these are still usually plastic and not often rigid enough for the knife edge to be very effective, except for maybe a crusted dessert made in camp. I wonder if a still rounded METAL (it was interesting to see the metal spork she was given, I'd never seen one and it kind of spurred me on to consider this comment) design with a deeper side bowl to eat from and slightly deeper tines to use with a gently serrated edge might actually be a solid camping/survival utensil for all sorts of more rustic cooking. Though, of course, that is where it would be used best rather than the general everyday or fine table.

Great! She's lovely. Now can you do non-western utensils? Different kinds of chopsticks, Chinese soup spoon, Korean spoon, etc

I vote for more hosts enjoying themselves during these segments, please!

This is a really genuine reactions and knowledge provided by her. The way she says What she likes and dislike is funny which makes it more fun to watch and learn. I haven't seen as many Spoons and forks as I've watched this today.

I can very much appreciate how this was very much about the history of the implements, rather than about the prim and proper usage of every style of utensil you can think of in a modern day bougie dinner

Sporks are handy for scoops of ice cream served in a bowl, specifically where the ice cream is still very hard/frozen solid. It helps you get a footing to crack the sphere without it slipping out of the bowl.

Epicurious really out there buying top notch food for a utensils instructions video

This women is a delight to listen to! ✨

She's adorable. I love that she's also enjoying herself and all the fancy foods

Although some may consider this an effete topic, I thought the presenter did a good job in decribing the origins and showed she really enjoyed the food she was sampling.

I think Dara is my new favorite person! I could listen to her give an entire history lecture on the forms and shapes that silverware have taken over the span of history

I was looking for something like this vid. Thank you for making this.

Regarding the western focus you mentioned at first. I was watching a local etiquette show once, and one of the things she said that struck me was "when in western countries, don't use the spoon to scoop, use the fork". Things like rice, peas, etc.. are often eaten with a spoon here. The fork is only used for things that need to be picked up, like meats, fish, etc. Maybe it's just because I'm used to it, but I find using the spoon much more practical, as you don't really need to use both a fork and knife to scoop up some foods.

I love these types of videos. I would really appreciate one about chopstick edict and rules. There are so many cultures with it, it would be great to learn. Not enough here on RU-vid.

Great Great Video Thanks Epicurious and Darra Goldstein !!! lots of love and respect from India !!!

She is amazing. I loved how she nicely explain all utensils .

The best part of this is her being surprised by how good the food is

Wow!! I never knew table utensils have a lot of history behind it!!! Thank you 😊

i had a lot more fun than i thought i would. love her enthusiasm and the way she explained everything

Funny thing is as because I'm from subcontinent I've never used fork of knife in any restaurants, parties, homes, yet I'm hooked in this content.

This was so good!! Informative and hilarious (especially with the food reactions). Though I must say the thought of having to switch hands with the fork everytime you cut and eat something seems exhausting to me!!

The spork hate absolutely made my day

LOVE her and this video. Great presenter who you can tell is having a great time.

I loved everything about this video-especially her musings about the value of the utensils and the surprise she showed when she tasted something she liked!! I must have the pork chop recipe. Kudos also to the photographer.

Would love to see more international utensils shown and explained. Very informative!

If I ever turned up for dinner and was confronted with all these utensils, I’d probably just turn around and go straight home 😂

at home we had big soup spoons with sharp front edge (facing kind of little diagonal upwards) , we used it to eat stew and cut the meat inside in smaller easy to eat pieces ☺️ never seen anything like that on tv

I agree the spork is such a meme concept. It's so unpractical and it looks really cheap. I would be amazed if I saw a spork at an event other than a kindergarten party.

I love how she enjoys the food 😂❤️

Love this! Been interested in table manner for the longest time.

I like it that she actually use and demonstrate the utensils and eat and enjoy the food too.

I thoroughly enjoyed this presentation! Thank you!

I don’t care what anyone says, sporks are my favorite utensil. Some foods are just spork foods, like chunky stews, rice dishes with chunks, chili… anything that involves scooping with occasional stabbing or cutting.. I keep a few plastic sporks around that I wash and reuse because they’re the perfect shape, and I have a few metal ones I made myself from spoons.. lol (not like crappy ones… I have a knife making workshop, they actually look really nice. I just don’t like the shape so I use the plastic ones.) I don’t know why people don’t like sporks, but I’ll defend them forever. They’re awesome for tons of meals I love to eat like pot roast I had yesterday and a few days before that I had salmon and rice and I enjoyed those meals with my favorite spork hahaha

Love the way she enjoyed the food! Very relatable Lol

Came for the tutorial stayed for the food reactions, amazing!!!

I wonder if Epicuruous staff have ever heard of a cake that is made with diced apples, which are combined with a spoon of sugar and left to brown purposely for about an hour? Then a spoon of flour is added which makes them more pleasant in a cake, they bind into the batter. Also I believe coconut is added, and some nuts like chopped pecans. Make praline and pour the hot praline over the cake sealing it. It stays moist. The praline is firm but not like a brick. It is so very distinctive. I believe German in origin. Reminiscent of a carrot cake in consistency and flavor. With tiny bits of lovely apple to the moist cake. I have found a similar cake called "Apple dabble", but nowhere can I find a cake using apples left to oxidize into his way. It slightly colors the batter, and for some reason, makes the cake better. My Grandmother made it. She was Irish. Her name was Pearl Arabel.

I was surprised to see the grapefruit spoon and the fruit knife, but I had seen something else growing up. It was more like a very thin-bladed knife with serrated sides and it was bent to run along the inside of the wedge and to separate out the fruit. I assume it's not as common as the grapefruit spoon, but I find it much easier to use!

This was a great video, and I really enjoyed the presenter's personality and demeanor.

This was really fascinating, and I loved Darra's explanations and frankness. I'd be interested in more like this, please!

Step by step eating tutorials literally saved my life like I forgot how to eat but these videos saved me

I feel like this is a course to become a princess and this video is like my training for my first dinner with my long lost parents who are King and Queen

I enjoyed the history lesson and how she just had to compliment the food cause it was so good. That was super cute. Can't wait to see her again

finally someone who appreciates and shows to enjoy the food just as much as I would like to😫

Brilliant video! Thank you! I was brought up in the 1960's, and table manners were instilled at an early age. The only two items I've never encountered, were the caviar spoon, and the straw spoon. When I was five, as a birthday treat, a rich uncle took my mum, my gran, and myself, to afternoon tea at the Savoy hotel in London. I was complimented on my table manners. I fear I might have lapsed somewhat, in the 54 years following that!

Note re use of dinner knife: Non-Americans do not put the knife down and transfer the dinner fork to the right hand. We continue to keep the fork in our left hand.

The info on the utensils is nice and all, but I want the links to these amazing recipes. She sells them so well

That was so much fun, thank you!!!

I recently went through all the family silver and was perplexed by many pieces. Luckily, some sets were in silver cloth with embroidered descriptions. The most interesting west was labeled, “ice cream fork”. They sure look like sporks to me!

"once you've finished the slicing, lay the knife along the rim of the plate" *SCREAMS IN EUROPEAN*

I appreciate this video so much. Maybe I will never use all those utencils but who knows... I like the idea to feel not hopless in case I have to use them 😊

Earlier this year (2022), I bought a package of plastic spoons just to have on hand if needed. The first time that I used one, I discovered that the curvature from side to side was so deep that my upper lip could pull only about 3/4 of the food off, and even that was very awkward. You would have to hold these upside down and use your tongue to scoop off the food. 😄 I never imagined a manufacturer could mess up a plastic spoon!

I absolutely loved this video!!! You brought humor to a topic that some might consider boring, but not me!!! I love learning the history and purpose behind utilitarian objects we use everyday and take for granted. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us.

“After cutting, set the knife down and switch the fork to your right hand to eat” Me, a lefty: *has an existential crisis* Plot Twist: She's not really a utensil expert she just wanted a free meal 😂But all jokes aside, Darra is a delightful presenter! I learned so much about culinary history. I also enjoyed her simple pleasure in tasting good food. She's talking about table utensils etiquette, but I love that she said fingers are the best utensils of all. Food is better appreciated when you feel its texture.

this made me realize how superior chopstick is

Darra is the best! I enjoyed every bit of her praise for the food she tasted.

This was so fun to watch!! So informative and I love her depth of knowledge. 😃🥰💖