‘This is my secret’: Food director reveals shocking must-have kitchen gadget

Of all of the instruments in all of the drawers, I used to be a little bit stunned to study simply what gadget our meals director, Michelle Southan, reaches for frequently. 

You would possibly assume the common-or-garden ice-cream scoop is just good for scooping ice-cream. However, it appears Michelle has discovered no finish to how useful this gadget is for every kind of food-related issues. 

Believe it or not, once we not too long ago visited Michelle, she pulled out round half a dozen ice-cream scoops that have been taking on area in her kitchen drawers and proudly stated, “I’m sure I could find more if I go hunting”.

Why does she have so many, you would possibly ask?

“Because I do,” is her easy reply. 

But let’s elaborate.

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Shelly’s scoop on her ice-cream scoop habit

Whether you’re baking or serving, Michelle has discovered that the ice-cream scoop is the right sidekick. 

“The great thing with scoops is that they are evenly sized,” she says. “It’s not just about portion control, it’s also about even cooking. So, if you want things to cook evenly and consistently, using an ice-cream scoop is a great way to do that.”

Michelle has a combo of deep spoon-like ones and old style mechanical varieties that include a blade that helps launch the ice-cream from the news. Here are simply a number of the issues she makes use of them for.

“The list is endless, let’s face it,” Michelle says.

1. Assembling ice-cream sandwiches

Michelle makes use of mechanical ice-cream scoops for making ice-cream sandwiches. “Scoop the ice-cream and put it in between the two cookies – it’s perfectly portioned,” she says.

2. Portioning mashed potato

“Coming from a family of chefs, portioning food and having enough food for everybody was really important,” says Michelle.

“It looked good, too,” she provides.

3. Sizing golden syrup dumplings

“I use a mechanical ice-cream scoop for golden syrup dumplings,” says Michelle. “I use it to scoop a softer, wetter batter into the golden syrup sauce. It means that all of my dumplings are even sized and they cook evenly.”

4. Making truffles at Christmas

“When you’re making truffles, how messy are they to roll? So, I use a mechanical ice-cream scoop to portion out my truffles onto a baking tray, which means that when I go to roll them, it’s nice and quick and easy, they’re all the same size, and they’re all ready to give away as gifts,” says Michelle.

5. Portioning biscuit/cookie dough

“If you’ve got a soft dough – like a chocolate chunk kind of biscuit – mechanical ice-cream scoops are great for scooping the dough onto the baking tray and, again, they’re all even sized,” says Michelle.

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6. Making pancakes

“You can use an ice-cream scoop to transfer pancake mixture to the frying pan,” Michelle says. “I use a bigger scoop. You’ll find that you get evenly sized pancakes.”

7. Muffins and cupcakes

Michelle says: “If you make muffins or cupcakes, an ice-cream scoop is the perfect way to get the mixture into the paper cases without the batter going all over the cases. This is my secret.”

8. Creating coils of ice-cream

“When you want those really big, luscious scoops of ice-cream, scoops are great,” says Michelle. “You just pull it along the ice-cream and you get that lovely coil going.”

9. Making chocolate curls

“I like to use scoops to make chocolate curls for putting on a cake, especially a celebration cake,” Michelle says. “The ice-cream scoops which have finer edges are excellent for doing chocolate curls. I pull them alongside the softened chocolate and I get lovely large curls of chocolate.

“So, if you want to decorate a cake, this is the perfect, easiest way to make something very simple look very fancy.”

This chocolate curl cake makes use of Michelle’s fabulously straightforward hack.

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