Let me first welcome you to the Meadow Home Country Store
In this article we are going to expound on the several different types of whisks, or whips as they are called by the food service industry.
Among the many types of whisks you will see such names as balloon whisk, French whisk, flat/roux whip, and baker’s whip, you will see various sizes of each ranging from tiny fingertip whisks to massive 36-inch whips used in commercial kitchens. Each whip is designed to excel at specific tasks and sometimes a recipe demands that a certain type and size of whip be used to achieve the desired outcome, and of course having the right tool for the job makes all the difference in the world.
Whisks are best known for their ability to quickly whip air into ingredients, however, whisks have several other uses as well. Betty Crocker provides us an official definition of the term "whip":
To beat rapidly to produce
expansion through the incorporation of air,
as in egg whites, and heavy cream.
Excerpt from Betty Crocker’s Picture
Cookbook, 1950
Handles are another factor in whisks with a sturdy
handle being necessary for larger whips so one can get a positive grip for
working the whip through thick batters, and a slim handle being preferred on
smaller whisks so they can be easily handled in the fingers.
At our store you will find different handle designs and colors this is more for personal preference rather than function.
The whisks we carry are sourced from Best Whips USA a local family owned and operated company. The folks at Best Whip are wonderful people and are dedicated to making sturdy high quality whisks.
At the end of this article we have included a section on the history of the whisk, this section is small right now but we will be adding to it as we slowly uncover new morsels of history.
Below is a Quick Reference Guide for those who don’t have the time to read through the whole article:
The Balloon Whisk
The balloon whisk is the classic style of whip and the one folks think of when someone mentions whisks. It is characterized by a dramatic widening of the wires to produce a bulbous mixing end which allows more of the whisk to come into contact with the ingredients resulting in more aeration and reduced whipping time.
Balloon whisks are used for aerating or whisking up light and fluffy dishes such as soufflés, meringues, whipped cream, and beating eggs to a froth for Dutch babies. Of course they will do a great job at any number of cooking tasks and in the end they make a great general purpose whisk.
The French Whisk
The French whisk is used for mixing or blending and is superior to a spoon or fork due to its greater mixing action. It is also better suited to the task of mixing than a balloon whip because of the slender design of the wire loops which allows it to better fit into the corners of bowls and pans to ensure more thorough mixing. The narrower design also makes for less whisk being in contact with the ingredients which means less aeration while still providing improved mixing action.
They can also be used for scraping out bowls instead of using a spatula. Overall, French whisks are a great general purpose whip and will work well for numerous tasks.
The Flat/Roux Whip
Flat or Roux whips are notably different than balloon or French whisks and are characterized by a reduced number of wire loops arranged into a flat shape that is well suited for stirring and deglazing the bottom of shallow pans while making gravies, sauces, or blending a roux.
The flat shape of the whip allows more area to be stirred at once than a spoon or French whisk. They also work for mixing stiff batters and for scraping the mixing bowl afterwards.
The Baker’s Whip
The Baker’s Whip is certainly unique, it is characterized by three heavy gauge wire loops arranged into somewhat of a ladle shape to optimize the mixing of thick batters such as you find with muffins or scones. Because of the stiffness of this whip it is also used for combining ingredients into a dough for biscuits or bread. And of course it works well for scraping the mixing bowl once you have turned your dough out onto a floured board.
History
Julia Child is credited with introducing America to the whisk when she used one during a tv show promoting a book she coauthored named Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1961. Whisks have been around long before Julia Child made them popular in America. Their history begins with the use of bundled twigs to mix together ingredients and eventually developed into the wire whisk in probably the 18th or 19th century.
The book The Frugal Housewife by Susanna Carter printed in London in the mid-1700s (some reports say 1765) mentions using a whisk in her instructions for making a Whipt Syllabub, see below:
A Whipt Syllabub.
Take two porringers of cream, and one of white wine, grate in the skin of a lemon, take the whites of three eggs sweeten it to your taste, then whip it with a whisk, take off the froth as it rises, and put into your syllabub glasses or pots, and they are fit for use.
The history of whisks is obscured in the shadows of former times. As we discover more about the development of the whisk we will be sure to include it here for your enjoyment.
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