What is this?

[Mike Serpa]

I saw this at a thrift store. The owner does not know what it is. Neither do I. We both think it is used for food. What is it? And to fit our forum, could it have been used during the Civil War? (Not this actual item but a similar one.)


Shaped like a tear drop. A small dam with a hole at the bottom divides it in two.

 

[redbob]

It could be some type of an invalid feeding spoon.

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

It could be some type of an invalid feeding spoon.

I like your suggestion, @redbob. I just finished reading The Patriot Daughters of Lancaster's book, "Hospital Scenes After the Battle of Gettysburg," which mentions feeding soup to the very sick soldiers they nursed at Christ Lutheran Church, the First Corps hospital. I could imagine a spoon like the one @Mike Serpa found being useful for controlling the flow of liquid.

 

[lelliott19]

Its evidently a "fat skimming" ladle similar to this one
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-stainless-steel-fat-skimming-ladle/

Here's another one exactly like the one pictured in the OP labeled as a "soup sauce gravy fat separator."
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/SS-SOUP-SAUC...106811?hash=item2a5e8fc4fb:g:Rg4AAOSwHPlWgbx~

 

[kholland]

I saw this at a thrift store. The owner does not know what it is. Neither do I. We both think it is used for food. What is it? And to fit our forum, could it have been used during the Civil War? (Not this actual item but a similar one.)

View attachment 108400
Shaped like a tear drop. A small dam with a hole at the bottom divides it in two.

It looks like a sauce ladle. And it was used for drizzling sauces into food. Possibly the divider gets rid of chunks of whatever is left in the sauce. I don't know why it has a hook seemingly for hanging.

 

[James B White]

Try googling "fat skimming ladle" for various modern examples, that let one pour off the bottom layer of a spoonful. For example http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-stainless-steel-fat-skimming-ladle/

Edited to add: beat by lelliott19 by just 5 minutes!

 

[Mike Serpa]

Thanks everybody for your replies!

Its evidently a "fat skimming" ladle similar to this one
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/williams-sonoma-stainless-steel-fat-skimming-ladle/

Here's another one exactly like the one pictured in the OP labeled as a "soup sauce gravy fat separator."
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/SS-SOUP-SAUC...106811?hash=item2a5e8fc4fb:g:Rg4AAOSwHPlWgbx~

Thanks!

 

[FarawayFriend]

I'm too late for the party, as usual but let me add one thing to the question @Mike Serpa asked in the OP if this could have been used in the Civil War.
A ladle for sauce would have been used then for sure. But I bet without any fat skimming device. 150 years ago, people were not as afraid of fat as we are now. They had so much physical exercise during their day (think alone of having to walk a lot more than we do) that fat was very welcome as a source of energy. And the POWs in the prisons would have fought for the globules of fat that swam on top of the soup, as their soup probably consited more of water than anything else. I have read an account of an inmate (can't remember where, though, so please don't ask for my source) that rank among the prisoners was obvious by the turn each man was allowed to take when it came to distributing food. Only the first ones would get a little fat from the top of the soup and they more or less subsided on what little fat they could get.
Just a thought - but sometimes it's good to remember how comfortably we are living now.

 

[donna]

That is a great find in the Thrift Store. If I had seen it would have purchased it.

I would have thought it was a sauce or gravy ladle.

 

[redbob]

I like your suggestion, @redbob. I just finished reading The Patriot Daughters of Lancaster's book, "Hospital Scenes After the Battle of Gettysburg," which mentions feeding soup to the very sick soldiers they nursed at Christ Lutheran Church, the First Corps hospital. I could imagine a spoon like the one @Mike Serpa found being useful for controlling the flow of liquid.

What was called an Invalid Feeding Cup was used during the Civil War, it was slightly larger than a tea cup with a spout on one side for the person to sip from and a half cover on the top so that you could spoon the liquid out and pour it without spilling. That said, I'm changing my vote for the original object to a gravy spoon.

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

I took a picture of an invalid feeding cup at the Seminary Ridge Museum last year when I visited.

 

[MRB1863]

I lean towards the title of "Fat skimming ladle" with others who posted above.

 

[FarawayFriend]

I took a picture of an invalid feeding cup at the Seminary Ridge Museum last year when I visited.

View attachment 108428

These cups are still in use in hospitals and very helpful if you have to lie on your back and are thirsty! Here is a more modern one:

 

[FarawayFriend]

As for fat skimming devices, maybe @donna is interested in this here, that's what I use to separate the fat from the sauce. Fat will swim on top, if you pour the sauce from this mug, it will stay in the mug instead of coming to your hips:

 

[donna]

FarawayFriend I have one of those. I have been using just for gravy. Will try what you do. Thanks for tip.

 

[redbob]

As for fat skimming devices, maybe @donna is interested in this here, that's what I use to separate the fat from the sauce. Fat will swim on top, if you pour the sauce from this mug, it will stay in the mug instead of coming to your hips:

You must know my wife, whose motto is: "A moment on the lips and a lifetime on the hips".