SC - A funny thing happened to me in the cooking store...

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Stefan li Rous wrote:
> 
> Seumas said:
> >  They had some new rolling
> > pins. Very simple design, long and thin, with no handles (neither the
> > thicker, shorter US style with handles, nor the long, thin tapered
> > French style I also know).
> 
> Oh! Until you said this I didn't realize there could be a different
> shape than what I've seen here, the cylinder with a handle on each
> end. Does this French style have handles on both ends with a cylinder
> tapering from a larger to smaller circle? It would seem to roll in
> a circle rather than straight in that case. Or is it wider around in
> the middle than the ends, like a wooden barrel?

Yes. Think of a [American] football stretched out to about two feet long
with a commensurate loss of circumference (all right, that was a bit
much even for me). Roughly two feet long, about an inch in diameter at
the ends, maybe 2.5 inches in the middle, with a smooth, curved taper.
Like, as you say, a barrel.
> 
> So Adamantius, you said you had seen some post-period rolling pins,
> what shape were they? Makes my original question of period rolling
> pins even more interesting.

No, what I've seen are post-period recipes that use them. The basic form
for the older ones I've actually seen tends to be a simple wooden dowel
about two feet long and 2-3 inches (5-7.5 cm.) in diameter. As with the
French chef's knife, the design which tapers on a curve takes the place
of a number of differently-sized tools for different jobs. Some rolling
pins for small items where you want to avoid a lot of gluten development
in the rolling process, such as various filled pastas, wheat flour
tortillas, etc., use a small rolling pin that resembles a 6-inch length
of broomstick. With the French tapered sort, you can do those jobs by
rolling near the tip.

Now if only French chefs had invented half the other things they claim
they did... 

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com