What size spoon do you use...

[MomofKatie]

There's a reason it's called a tablespoon and the small ones are called teaspoons...they're for tea. Tablespoons are for eating with. Basically I'm saying your DH isn't the weird one

ITA. I do like to use a teaspoon to eat ice cream with, though- makes it last longer...

 

[themermaidgirl]

This is the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of this topic lol

 

[disykat]

Me TOO!!! I am ASTOUNDED that so many people do not know what a tablespoon is.


It is an actual unit of measure in cooking & baking. Larger than a teaspoon, but not serving spoon size. Doesn't matter if it is round like a soup spoon or oval like a "normal" tablespoon. Have you ever seen a recipe say, "add 3 servings spoons of butter to a recipe"???


I used to do catering and a serving spoon is what the waiters use at buffet tables to scoop out and serve a whole portion of food to one person. One serving spoon size of mashed potatoes would be about 6 teaspoons full. A serving spoon is also the size one uses to serve salad. When you Google "serving spoon" they look like this:

Also: Oval serving spoon on left, tablespoon on right:

Yes, we use those too, for fancy catering jobs. This is a diagram of a formal dinner place setting where the dessert spoon is is typically laid out at the top above the dinner plate. It also has the two different spoon sizes: teaspoon and oval soup spoon.

I have never seen a round soup spoon used at any of the various catering companies or events I've been to. The exception might be if the soup has clams still in the shell and the round soup spoon is easier to scoop up the whole shell as it is the same roundness.

My knowledge matches your drawing - no tablespoon as part of the place setting? I've seen lots of place settings with multiple pieces of silverware - salad fork, dinner fork, soup spoon, teaspoon, etc. and have NEVER seen an actual set table that included a tablespoon. They're no where in evidence at restaurants I've worked in or been to.

They did come as part of my flatware set, but I mainly use them as,, small serving spoons or utensils for cooking.

Like the OP, my understanding was that if a soup spoon is not included in the place setting, you are to use a teaspoon.

 

[Tink9721]

This is the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of this topic lol

 

[bumbershoot]

When you say the large spoon, do you mean the larger spoon in a place setting like this? The one that's the same size as your dinner fork?

If so, that's the one I use. You may choose to use it as a serving spoon, but it's part of the place setting and was meant to eat with. It's not really a serving spoon. Your husband is not doing anything weird.

That's the one I use.

Tiny spoons. I will admit that if I am at a resturaunt and the spoon is interestingly shaped or extremely little, it may find its way home with me. (Ok, I'm a spoon thief! I'm a terrible person!)

You might consider finding your local restaurant supply stores and seeing if you can buy from them! This place is down the highway from me and is fun to roam.

We use teaspoons.

At our house, we have teaspoons, soup spoons, table spoons, bigger serving spoons, grapefruit spoons and tall teaspoons for stirring iced tea.

After typing all that out, I'm starting to think we have way too many spoons.

Spoon spoon spoon...the word means nothing to me now LOL.

It is an actual unit of measure in cooking & baking. Larger than a teaspoon, but not serving spoon size. Doesn't matter if it is round like a soup spoon or oval like a "normal" tablespoon. Have you ever seen a recipe say, "add 3 servings spoons of butter to a recipe"???

But few people would actually USE their tablespoon for measuring, especially with baking, would they? I would think that most people use their measuring spoons for measuring.

 

[Poohforyou]

I use a teaspoon. I also use a salad fork when one is needed. The dinner fork and soup spoon are just too big for my mouth .

 

[disneyismyname]

Is it odd that I don't use spoons at all!?
I only use them for cereal, I use a fork for everything else. Speaking of cereal, I don't use bowls...i use cups. I'm weird like that.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

But few people would actually USE their tablespoon for measuring, especially with baking, would they? I would think that most people use their measuring spoons for measuring.

Depends where you live. Here we would mesure using a teaspoon or a dessert spoon or a tablespoon according to the recipe. We don't have mesuring spoons or use cups when baking

 

[Andy B]

A desert Spoon as that is what they are for, there is not just two sizes of spoon. A tea spoon is for tea, a desert spoon for desert (also used for cereal) A soup spoon for sou, (rounder shape) and a table spoon for serving.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Alrighty then.....what the heck are the long spoons called? I always called those teaspoons, since that is what you use for iced tea?

OK, looked it up and they are still teaspoons, just a longer handled version.

The big ones are dessert spoons also used for soup.

Oh and there is no spoon. Just had to say that.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Dessert spoons for cereal and puddings, soup spoons for soup. Teaspoons are for putting sugar into tea and coffee.

 

[John VN]

A long handled not quite teaspoon volumed spoon is my choice for cereal.

 

[NMAmy]

Alrighty then.....what the heck are the long spoons called? I always called those teaspoons, since that is what you use for iced tea?

OK, looked it up and they are still teaspoons, just a longer handled version.

The big ones are dessert spoons also used for soup.

Oh and there is no spoon. Just had to say that.

Not quite that easy a question when you really start thinking about it, is it?

 

[Rora]

Alright, time for a weird confession:
I HATE spoons. They freak me out (I don't know why) and I really don't like using them. I only use big spoons but I'd rather eat ice cream with a fork.

Now that you all officially think I'm a weirdo, I'll move along..

 

[tlbwriter]

Alrighty then.....what the heck are the long spoons called? I always called those teaspoons, since that is what you use for iced tea?

They are sometimes called iced tea spoons to differentiate from measuring teaspoons.

Also, the more you see the word spoon, the weirder it looks!

 

[NMAmy]

Alright, time for a weird confession:
I HATE spoons. They freak me out (I don't know why) and I really don't like using them. I only use big spoons but I'd rather eat ice cream with a fork.

Now that you all officially think I'm a weirdo, I'll move along..

So what are your feelings on the spork?

 

[punkin]

In my family (Eastern European) we had tablespoons which were quite large (and used for soups) and desert spoons which were a little bit smaller than the tablespoons they have in a standard American place setting. They were used for desert (including ice cream). Teaspoons were for tea only (we also had demitasse spoons for coffee, which was served in smaller cups). We did not have the American rounded soup spoons (I think because my Grandmother never served any sort of cream soup, which they were primarily designed for). I think it matters a lot where you are from. For example, DH's grandmother had a set of Iced Tea spoons. My grandmother would have had no use for them.

 

[elgerber]

I use a teaspoon, but my husband uses a tablespoon. My son is also now using a tablespoon for his cereal.

 

[mrodgers]

But if the pieces are small (Fruity Pepples), it's a table spoon. I don't know why I do this, it just always works out that way.

Fruity Pebbles? For that, just dump the milk right in the bag and use a shovel to shovel right out of the bag.

My girls (7 and 10) fight constantly over the one baby spoon we have left, LOL. It is about the size of a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon.

 

[3boymthr]

Well, it depends upon where I am.

At home what ever's left in the drawer, but for Ice Cream I prefer an Ice Tea Spoon and for cereal a soup spoon.

At my mother's I'll use an Ice Cream Spoon for Ice Cream because she has an extensive set of silverware and beyond the standard tea and tablespoons it includes special spoons just for Ice Cream so they might as well get used. Her set also has demitasse, desert, cream soup, iced tea, sugar and fruit (pointed with a serrated edge) four (or maybe 5 ) different sizes of serving spoon, four kinds of knives and three kinds of forks and no she's not European and neither is her silverware. This her everyday silverware, don't get me started on the actual silver.