The Magic Whisk

I love vintage cooking utensils. I like them because they were built to last. My prize kitchen find is a cheese greater with extra-large holes. Thank you so much for the recipe, I can't wait to try it.

thanks for the recipe, it looks delicious

FUN Article....I just love "old" whisks and beaters and blenders too, and some models are just plain FUN to use!...It was nice to see the results of using some of these old vintage kitchen utensils. ....TXs so much for this article!...XoXo...L2Country

Love vintage! And how fun to actually try them out and see results!

I think the mechanical feel and sound of the center drive rotary beater is the best part!

Love this! I'd also wondered how our great+ grandmothers (not to mention their generation of restaurant chefs) regularly produced things like whipped cream. It appears that sometimes elegant, ingenious simplicity is the best way to go. No electricity needed, a bonus!

Interesting! Who knew?

Fascinating! Great recipe.

I had no idea there were so many different kinds! Great article!

This is great! Thanks!!!

Oh whisk...what would I do without you? From frothing our morning cappuccinos to whisking eggs to coat a home-baked brioche, you're awesome, and you're a tool I use a bunch, so thanks, dude.

love this post! I have a few whisks in the shop (and a few more that I haven't gotten around to listing). My husband has discussed just using one in our kitchen.... now I know it's probably better than my blender!!

Great recipe, I'll try it this weekend with my mother. Thanks for sharing it!

Such pretty cookies!

what a FUN blog post! makes me want to go try my old whisks ;) my favourite sauce whisk is a modern version of the rotary hand whisk... but i've not yet tried making merigue with it.

and by rotary I meant spring and wire ... oops.

VINTAGE WINS! I loved watching my grandmother make meringue, with her energy put into our food, it always feels more delicious. ^__^

I'd wondered about that too! Great article and lovely cookies. Thanks!

The most annoying thing about some whisks (especially the blasted sauce whisk!!) is getting them properly clean after use! Cheese graters are easier to clean than whisks!

oh, the nerd in me loves this that recipe looks delicious too.. thanks!

Very interesting, especially because we love making meringue kisses. I use my modern beater, but now I'm thinking about stealing my daughter's rotary whisk to use. She's 6 and fell in love with it at an antique store; she uses it when she's playing chef. Mommy has to figure out a way to con her out of it. :-)

I've always wondered how effective different types of whisks were... now I know!

Fun and interesting article. Thank you!

:-D Great article and LOVE the pictures. My kitchen is full of estate sale treasures because I've also found that they work much better than many modern tools!

I love this! Great post.

Thanks so much for sharing. I only use vintage items in my kitchen, because I feel that they are quicker and better. Thank you so much for sharing and for the recipe.

yummmmm

Great article, loved the time and effort you put into the comparisons. Somewhere, stashed away, I have one of those old rotary mixers, may have to give it a home in the kitchen. I agree, the stand mixers often miss areas.

I do mine with a fork, as I don't have a whisk. I hear you on the arm-falling-off thing!

Fun article and thank you for the recipe, they look tasty! Will have to try it.

I use old non electric things if I can help it- obviously not right now as non electric laptops don't exist... yet- but they take up less space and require renewable energy- our own arm energy, that we get back after eating the poppy seed cake of awesomeness. On the down side I have problematic shoulders so one day might have to invest in an electric one:( booo! Whisking egg whites with a fork took a whole episode of the Simpsons plus ad break.

cookies look delicious! thank you for sharing your results!!

You must be exhausted! I tried the same thing with hand sewing a few pillows to compare quality and time to a machine... in this instance, the machine won. Though, it was my very old, faithful, industrial machine. So, maybe there is a connection? At any rate, thanks for the meringue recipe- they are my all-time favorite cookie!

thanks for the recipe, looks yummy

The sauce wisk ! My mother used that and was the perfect tool. Will happily hunt for one ..love your cookie recipe. Thank you.

I love vintage cooking utensils and recipes!! Great article - thanks!

Great article!

Is that rust on some of those? Hopefully you got it all off before making the meringue. :) Is that safe to eat meringue made with a rusted utensil?

I loved this article! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. It never would have accorded to me to ask such an interesting question. To follow through and buy the set of whisks to find the answer was a stoke of genius.

Ooh, I see rust! I hope everyone who ate that meringue is up to date on their shots! It is a very informative article though. I loved playing with the whisks at grandma's house as a child. She'd give all of us grandkids a bowl with frosting ingredients and we would race!

i use some old things almost every day....stuff we got from my husband's grandparents....we have this ancient cheese grater that makes short work o grating....my one son calls it the tetanus grater cuz it gets rusty if not dried right away.....we also have old pans and juicers, and really old measuring cups.....i also use my inherited Bauer bowls from the 30s.....

i also use a pastry cutter a lot....but not for its designed use.....it's great for busting up ground beef for tacos! just cook your meat and instead of poke-poke-poking at it with a spatula to break it into small bits, use a pastry cutter. awesome hint i read somewhere......

I love that line about our Grandma's having arms of steel after beating all their egg whites! I can believe it! I couldn't believe how much easier life got once I got an electric mixer! Making cookie dough is a snap now, no more stirring of seemingly cement consistency cookie dough. Great article, interesting how one of the whisks from 70 years ago beat out our modern day mixers!

I remember seeing an informative cooking show on the chemistry of cooking. Apparently if you use a copper bowl with that first whisk, those egg whites should fluff right up in no time (and maybe a touch of cream of tartar to stabilize?)

I love vintage kitchen stuff! I love buying it! I love displaying it and looking at it! I DON'T, however, love cooking with it. But then, I don't love cooking at all! Somehow, though, it's still fun to read about people who do.

Interesting information. Love the great old antique whisks and hearing your experience with them!

This is quite possible the BEST Etsy blog post ever! Really engaging and interesting. I find it especially so since this is something I have actually wondered about previously. Curiosity satisfied!

wow! what an amazing and very funny article :) laughed all the way thru it, then drooled at the end with all those delish meringues to eat! yum yum. thanks so much Sarah! so enjoyed this :)

I can't wait to try that recipe! Thank you :)

I love this article!! Old kitchen gadgets are my favorite!

Just whisk me away!

I love it! This is like a lesson from cooking class - only more interesting! Woo Hoo! Gonna make meringues! :-)

Wow, such old tools! I don't think I would ever use vintage kitchen tools in my kitchen though- I appreciate that some of the things we have now are a little more efficient and improved compared to the older tools. Cool recipe though, and love the pictures! Interesting to see how these kitchen tools are different now.

This was great! It made me remember watching my grandmother as she worked away making goodies when we came to visit! She had the red-handled tools and produced some "mighty fine" grub using them!

So fun! I love the hand crank whisks! ♥

Great!

Interesting story... lol at mixer from 1930's beating modern one... progression: like man 40 years ago stepped on moon, what even now seems impossible with all the pc's and iphones.

The evolution of whisks, I love this!

So wonderful to learn the history of the whisk - and to see the results from each one! I've only acquired an electric mixer in the last month - I always felt like it would be cheating to not mix everything by hand. Love how you found the 1930s rotary whisk to be more effective than the modern electric one. Fabulous!

Awesome! Thanks for the article. Aloha! =)

ohhh love vintage !

Great post, really interesting!

Interesting! love the vintage kitchen utensils!

awesome collection...since my mixer broke..i use two forks no fun..lol

interesting experiment. Thanks for the recipe! Perhaps it is very tasty.

I have acquired several old kitchen tools and a few I use on a regular basis. I love my flour sifter. Now I am going to go look for that whisk at the next yardsale or vintage store jaunt. Sometimes I hate to get out the electric beater just for a little froth. And I am for sure going to try this recipe. :)

So loved your post...so very interesting. I, too, love the look of the vintage utensils but always use my Kitchen Aid for meringue. Bet if we used the old wisks, we wouldn't get "angel wings" on our arms!!!! Meringue cookies are my grandkids favorite...I will often throw mini choc. chips in, which just puts the cookies over the top in their eyes. Gotta make them on a dry day, tho. Thanks for your research and am going to try your recipe!

Interesting topic... and a delicious looking recipe! Thanks for sharing!

Fantastic post! Thanks for sharing!

love the top image! I would hang it in my kitchen.

Great post! I love a vintage kitchen.

I remember reading Laura Ingalls Wilders' book about her husband, These Happy Golden Years or maybe Farm Boy. She tells of making her wedding cake and how she beat egg whites with a fork 'until her arm ached.' So glad I have a hand crank egg beater now! Great post.

I love the rotary beater.

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I've loved reading everyone's family stories (it's made me laugh a few times!) and I'm glad I've inspired a few people to give the rotary whisk a try--as well as the recipe for these unbelievable kisses! And I learned something, too--never heard about the copper bowl, but now I am giving to give it a try. Also--the meringue from the first rotary better was orange with rust! I threw it away and didn't use it in the final recipe:) It was all soupy and awful, anyway. I just posted on my blog about the whisk that would predate all of these, one made from twigs! I tried it out, too. Take a look: http://www.fourpoundsflour.com/the-whisk-and-the-witchs-broom/

Great read! It reminds me of when I was little and used to use my Grandmothers old whisks to try and make beautiful hand made paper. I always ended up with grey cardboard but had a blast making it.

Hi - I really enjoyed this article - it was very interesting, reading about your "test runs" with the various whisks. Then I realized I had all the ingredients on hand to make the meringue kisses recipe. So I did. The first attempt was a flop. The egg whites never got fluffy. (using a stand mixer, and then giving an electric hand mixer a try). So, I looked around the internet and found another meringue cookie recipe. The ingredients were added in the opposite order (foam egg whites, add 1/4 t. *cream of tartar*, then sugar, then lemon.) The meringue came out shiny and fluffy, and the cookies are in the oven now, with 20 minutes to go. I used strawberry jam (*note: have your jam in a separate bowl from the jam jar, as raw egg whites will stick to your spoon when you put the jam on the meringues.) I ended up with just over 2 dozen cookies.

///The wisk is right up there with my 10" Victorinox as far as kitchen sidekicks are concerned! Brilliant article... God bless

Interesting!

What a wonderful article. I adore vintage kitchen utensils and I have a strong belief that using them instead of new kitchen gadgets, whatever I am making just tastes better. Maybe it's the slow, handcrafted, loverly way of making food with the older utensils, maybe it's their patina and color, maybe it's just that the maker is having fun :)

My grandmother's sauce whisk still hangs over the stove at our family's summer cabin. Now that I know how efficient it is, I'll quit thinking of it as "quaint" and put it to good use!

Fun post. Thanks

In May...The Honey and I set out to make a Lemon Meringue Pie for our son and take it to his work for his 24th birthday... We're retired...so Pie is great for any occasion especially birthdays, right? We used the first wire whisk that you showed... a week later, we made another pie and used an electric mixer. The electric mixer won...hands down! We didn't have the opportunity to try any others...but I loved this post. Because I could SOOO relate to the arms aching! Those little kisses look yummie! I enjoyed this post. Pat

I didn't think it would make a difference what type of whisk I used. I thought one took more elbow grease than the other - now I know. :) Thanks!

I don't do meringues but I have and still regularly use almost every vintage kitchen tool shown above. The old school tin grater is the simplest & by far best cooking accoutrement. Great article!

my grandma used to make lovely, delicious meringues in her AGA. also, the finest toast known to man (or woman) using a 'tennis racquet' device on the hot plate. the resulting toast was branded with a criss-cross pattern. happy memories!

I use a whisk similar to the French whisk fro egg whites. Though mine is a modern, lightweight piece. Of course my right arm gets pretty tired in the process - so I learnt to whisk with my left hand too :)

I’ve found lots of helpful info your recipe.

That is really awesome how each whisk makes a different froth! Thank you for sharing.

Absolutely fascinating to learn about how each whisk worked!

Thank you for testing writing and sharing it! Fascinating!!

I love those old vintage and antique kitchen tools! Been collecting them for years (for display and emergency use only, lol!). .... Funny how the oldest whisk design is still in use. Love our (new) stainless steel one!

Thanks for sharing this recipe! I will definetly try it...

I love the idea and the article. Please do more comparisons! I'd love to read them!

That's what we use in our household, a mixer similar to the 1930's one you pictured. We've never owned an electric mixer. Growing up we had a whisk and wooden spoons. We also have a vintage pastry blender, and I was antiquing with a friend 2 weeks ago when she purchased an identical muffin tin to the one in the first photo! I thought it was so unique, an 8 muffin pan. I love looking through antique stores for items I can actually use in my home. They have stood the test of time and they all have history and a story. It is interesting to ponder on where that item might have come from, who might have held it, and what labors of love where concocted with it in the kitchens of yesteryear.

My grand-ma had one of those hand wheeled whisk! I can't believe it, it remind me of her so much. I played many hours just looking at it as I was operating it! Awesome tool. Also my sisters and I used to play with it to make pretend baby doll food with water, flour and whatever could give it a tint. Don't ask me what it was..,hahaha!

You're funny, Sarah Lohman! I love funny, interesting, and informative articles like this one. And especially about food and cooking! Keep 'em coming.

My boyfriends father gave us 3 (count um) 3 boxes of vintage egg beaters. I would love to catalog them one day and put them up in the shop. Such an interesting collection.

This is interesting. http://unn.edu.ng/academics/faculties

This is beautiful. http://unn.edu.ng/academics/faculties