Was it two years ago? Three? Donna and I had people over on New Year's Day and an old high school friend, Mac Dalton, said, "Michael, I gotta show you what I do. I make things. What do you want to make?"
"This," I said, standing at my stove, and held up a spoon I'd awkwardly bent for basting.
"I can make that," he said. And he did.
Chef Jonathon Sawyer of The Greenhouse Tavern picked it this year as one of his holiday gift ideas for Food & Wine. I love these spoons. They're elegant just to have in your hand.
We immediately started to make more useful kitchen tools. Here's our whole catalogue, available on my site.
Another thing happened. I'd partnered with OpenSky, an Internet commerce site that finds really cool products, sends them to me, and asks me if I'd like to recommend them. Many things are duds, but they also found some amazing things like this Atlas Mortar and Pestle, which I can't live without (pulverizing freshly toasted coriander, making rillettes, making salsas), and this DMT Sharpening "Stone," the only product I've ever found that really works to make your knives sharp (I've been hopeless with actual stones; this uses a diamond-dusted perforated metal sheet—it's brilliant). OpenSky is the only site besides mine that sells Dalton-Ruhlman products. Go there if you want to see all kinds of fabulous gift ideas, in a huge range of categories besides cooking.
I just feel really lucky to be creating tools that didn't exist (the Offset Spoons, the Badass Perforated (aka Egg) Spoon) or products that existed but had a huge range in quality. There's no better Bamboo Pot Scrubber on the market—this one rocks, scraping food like egg and cheese off pans and rinsing clean, great for cast iron. One of the most important tools in the kitchen is a flat-edged wood spoon. We make quality flat-edged paddles out of acacia wood. And just try to find one as big as our Spanker, for stirring big vats of food.
We ship the products from right here in Cleveland, using Vocational Guidance Services, which employees people who are physically disabled or need help getting back into the workforce due to environmental factors such as being homeless. We love and are grateful to the people who work at VGS.
Mac and I would like to thank everyone who has supported our efforts. And we wish you happy holidays filled with great cooking. Don't stress out. It will all be OK. Fill your house with the aroma of great food. It's good for body and soul and eases stress. Hoppin' John is good luck on New Year's Day. Maybe that's what started this tiny tool company. Food is pretty powerful. You never know.
Mac and me./Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.
The shopping links for the week:
© 2012 Michael Ruhlman. Photo © 2012 Donna Turner Ruhlman. All rights reserved.
The offset spoons are fabulous. I gave several as gifts last year (and kept one for myself), and they were a huge hit!
Love to hear this, thanks!
Thanks for the ideas. I'm getting my wife the reusable straining cloths as a stocking stuffer (don't tell her). Your mention of the sharpening stones reminded me of this excellent post by Chad Ward on knife maintenance and sharpening. He's since expanded it into a book, but the post is well worth reading http://forums.egullet.org/topic/26036-knife-maintenance-and-sharpening/
good link. Chad also has an excellent book called an edge in the kitchen, excellent knife reference. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061188484/ref=nosim/ruhlmancom
That is an excellent book. I used it to help pick knives as a wedding present for my niece. Believe it or not, I met a young man (really young, like in high school) who is learning how to make knives, and I recommended this book to his mother as a Christmas present.
That's great that you are working with Vocational Guidance Services!
Love the offset spoons & straining cloths (among other things). Doing my shopping for my nephew (line cook) with you this year - he's been oogling my spoons for quite some time now. (Shh- He's getting the heavy duty meat grinder too.)
Lots of good tools for the kitchen. One hint. The pics change too quick. I believe there must be some formula for the amount of time words need to be on a screen for people to absorb them.
didn't want people to get bored. figured they could hit space bar to stop if they wanted more time with a photo.
Michael, would this stone work as well with a Shun? It is a Japanese knife with a more acute edge.
yes, it would work grt
I am clearly out of the loop - I never saw the offset soup soup spoons or the serving spoon, plus the quiche ring was not available last time I looked for it.
The offset tasting spoons are amazing; I have two sets. Same with the bad ass perforated spoon. That is really great, and with an All Clad 2-quart saute pan makes a perfect gift, especially if you include a recipe for how to perfectly poach eggs.
Looks like I have a little ordering to do. Then I can make Thomas Keller's quiche over the holidays.
the soup spoons and offset serving spoon just arrived. they're new!
I love them both!
The on-site store is a great idea, I never liked OpenSky.
I definitely want all of the offset spoons. I have to sing the praises of your Egg Spoon. It really is pretty badass 🙂 It is no fail for poached eggs, which EVERYONE messes up from time. FYI for those who make macarons: If you forget to age your egg whites, draining the excess water with this spoon works really well. The main purpose of aging them is to lose the excess water. Just drain using the spoon and carefully separate. You can then use the egg whites right away for macarons.