And the smooth, round handles of large spoons are invaluable when making brandy snaps: you simply lift the hot, pliable biscuit from the baking sheet and gently wrap it around the spoon handle, place it on a wire rack for five to eight minutes until set, then carefully slide it off.The of the major advantages of a large collection of spoons is that each can be dedicated to a particular task or dish. I keep a round-bowled beech spoon with a comfortably curved handle specially for making porridge, an elegant blonde birch spoon for vanilla custard, while a slightly yellow, large flat-bowled one is reserved solely for curried dishes.There is one wooden that spoon I wouldn't be without. It has a fairly small bowl and has a corner at its base and a round hole in its centre. This is my mayonnaise spoon, which I use for making proper lustrous, golden mayonnaise rather than the pallid whole-egg imitation whipped up in the blender. Fortunately, reliable kitchenware retailers such as David Mellor (shop and mail order: 4 Sloane Square, London SW1W 8EE; 0171- 730 4259) still maintain a good range for hands-on cooks. Food processor and microwave oven alike, which facilitate non-interventionist cooking, have reduced the amount of stirring and beating once done with the aid of a wooden spoon.
Stubborn stains can usually then be removed by rubbing the spoon with a cut lemon or wet salt.You'd think its versatility would ensure the wooden spoon a permanent place in the kitchen, but its future may be threatened. The best way to restore the smooth surface is to rub them with fine sandpaper then wash them well in cool water and dry with a cloth.If you've acquired some useful old but grimy wooden spoons - they can often be found on market stalls or at jumble sales - and want to restore them, first try scrubbing them carefully in cool water with a little mild detergent and a soft nail brush to remove the surface layer of dirt. Moreover, they are quiet - they don't scrape against a metal pan and set your teeth on edge.On the down side, wooden spoons are best washed by hand soon after use. Plonked in the dishwasher, they emerge very clean but after such prolonged contact with water the wood grain rises and the spoons feel slightly rough. Since most plastics deteriorate at high temperatures the environmentally friendly wooden spoon made a triumphant return.Wooden spoons have many merits: they are easy to hold and transmit heat slowly, and are therefore ideal for children and older people to use; they are long-lasting, and come in more sizes and shapes than metal spoons. Early non-stick pans were easily scratched, and so had to be used with a spoon or spatula of non- abrasive material. My latest and still pristine example, which came from a friend who lives in Japan, is a short-handled draining spoon made from fine-grained cherry wood with a matching handle-rest shaped like a tiny oriental pillow. Often regarded as old-fashioned by the gleaming kitchen brigade, wooden spoons might have been consigned to the scrapheap were it not for the arrival of Teflon-coated pans in the Sixties.
CHEAP, attractive and a pleasure to use, the wooden spoon is one of the truly indispensable implements in a fully functioning kitchen. Novice cooks might get by with just one or two but I find that after several years you easily amass a fine collection of these handsome tools. I've just counted more than 30 wooden spoons and spatulas crammed into stoneware jars beside the stove - where they stay dry and are conveniently to hand. Large, medium and small, they range from a 2ft-long Polish pierced spoon for draining dumplings and a big-bowled beauty with a 12in handle that I use for making jam, right down to the doll-size scoop that I use for salt.
Add cinnamon, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom and black pepper and fry for 30 seconds.Add the chopped onion and fry for one minute. Add salt to taste.Add sweetcorn, peas, carrots, red pepper and celeriac and fry for two minutes. Add the basmati rice and slowly stir until the rice becomes translucent - a few minutes.Add water and let it boil Cover with a lid, turn the heat down and simmer. Before all the water is absorbed, stir the rice once with a fork.Remove from the heat when the rice is cooked and all the water is absorbed (this will take about 15 minutes) Serve hot !. When the onion starts to turn golden, remove from the heat and pour over the lamb. Decorate with fried onions, fried cashew nuts and fresh coriander leaves, and serve hot.PILAU RICEServes 4450g/llb basmati rice4 one-inch sticks of cinnamon4 bay leaves8 cloves6 cardamom1 teaspoon black peppercorns6 tablespoons vegetable oilsalt to taste1 small onion, chopped4 tablespoons sweetcorn4 tablespoons peas4 tablespoons sliced carrots1 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped4 tablespoons grated celeriac600ml/1 pint waterSoak the basmati rice for 10 minutes, then wash thoroughly and drain.In a non-stick pan, heat the vegetable oil. When they start to pop, turn the heat down and add the cumin seeds, poppy seeds, curry leaves and dried onions.
