I’ve always used a soup ladle for more than just soup, but as sort of a general-purpose “serving spoon” for many things that were hard to dish up with a serving spoon. Soup, chili, spaghetti sauce, shaped pasta, gumbo, jambalaya . . . well, you get the idea.
With just Dave and me at home, I tend to serve up in the kitchen. And so a deep serving “spoon” — the soup ladle — was great for transferring lots of things from the pan to the plate.
And then we moved aboard Que Tal. And I discovered something interesting as I brought my box of kitchen stuff aboard. There wasn’t a single drawer anywhere on the boat, let alone in the galley, that was long enough to hold a soup ladle.
Oh my. I can’t really overstate the feeling that went over me. That’s when it really hit me that we were making a huge change in our lifestyle. Were we up to it? Yeah, I know. Over a soup ladle.
A few days later, as I was making cookies, I realized that I did have a short-handled “soup ladle” on the boat. My measuring cups.
You know what? They work perfectly. In lots of ways better than a long-handled soup ladle since the short handle means that I’ve got more control over it (and control is always good on a boat). The one-cup measure holds about the same amount as my old soup ladle.
Better yet, not only do they fit in the drawer, I already had them! Nothing new to find a place for.
And with that, it hit me again that yes, cruising was going to be different than living on land. But we’d find solutions to the problems.
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Jackie says
I also use measuring cups as scoops in flour, rice, oatmeal, etc. containers too. Especially if it’s a “measure” that you use regularly like, say, half cup. The scoop then just lives in the container. Cheap dollar store measuring cups are perfect for this.
Jim Shell says
We have both large and small soup-type ladles on Phantom. The small one we use to make pancakes and serve smaller servings and It lives in an open top implement canister. The larger ladle is used for soups and gumbos and it lives in an oven mitt that hangs from the bulkhead with several other awkward items. We are not offshore sailors so we can have open top things on our counters (they are fastened down).
Brim Stone says
https://snowpeak.com/pages/search-results-page?q=folding+ladle
Richard Kokemoor says
Plastic measuring cups often break at the base of the handle when used forcefully for scooping thick dishes. Metal measuring cups are not much better. If you like a one cup ladle size, why not use a coffee cup?