What is this gadget?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

roadfix

Chef Extraordinaire
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
13,711
Location
Park Drive Bar/Grill Los Angeles
Heavy, beautifully forged, brushed stainless steel "holder/pourer" with metal strainer. This thing is hinged at the middle of the handle and splits open to expose the opening of the glass container. This thing is well crafted. No markings anywhere.
Glass isn't marked pyrex so I'm not sure it can handle boiling liquid.
A friend of mine picked this up at thrift shop for $4. What is this thing?
 

Attachments

  • photo (7).jpg
    photo (7).jpg
    61 KB · Views: 306
  • photo (8).jpg
    photo (8).jpg
    60.6 KB · Views: 289
  • photo (9).jpg
    photo (9).jpg
    56.8 KB · Views: 262
Last edited:
My first thought is it is a device for mixing thickeners before being added to a sauce/gravy, etc.

Fill the glass cylinder with broth/water/whatever, then add flour, cornstarch arrowroot, etc. Shake vigorously and pour into your dish. I would imagine the strainer portion might prevent any lumps from making their way into the pan. Just shake and pour.

Just a guess.
 
It's pretty enough to use as a bracelet. Otherwise, I got nuthin'.
 
Yikes! It kind of looks like a torture device. I hope someone comes up with a realistic answer.

Katie, you may be right, but it seems pretty involved for such a simple chore?

Duh! I really, really don't know.
 
Are you sure it is a culinary gadget? If so, I might be inclined to take it to a good quality cookware shop and enquire further there.
 
Maybe a "modern" wine decanter?

That was my initial thought.
You can pour liquid into the glass which completely separates from the holder. But really doesn't make much sense to go through that step just to pour wine into it. There are so many cool, unique looking decanters out there.

It's about 12" in length with rubber O ring seals at both ends of the glass. The strainer can pass particles up to 1mm in diameter.

Perhaps there's a missing component to this thing?
 
Last edited:
Interesting. Why do you think it's kitchen gear? Maybe lab equipment of some sort?

If I had to guess I would say an oil server/pourer of some sort. There 's a local restaurant that serves bread with herbed olive oil at the beginning of the meal - there's a rosemary stem in the oil and this would be a nice way to serve.
 
Interesting. Why do you think it's kitchen gear? Maybe lab equipment of some sort?

If I had to guess I would say an oil server/pourer of some sort. There 's a local restaurant that serves bread with herbed olive oil at the beginning of the meal - there's a rosemary stem in the oil and this would be a nice way to serve.

I think it is too elegant to be a piece of lab equipment.

I like the idea of being an oil pourer. That makes sense.
Only thing is the 1 inch diameter spout is rather large to pour oil at the table.....? I don't know.
 
Does it have any brands imprinted on it?
Made in china..Check Williams and Sonoma.They always have interesting gadgets.

Could it possibly be a grease and small particle separator?
For those that just can't stand to have anything good added to their gravy.

Neurotics!:ermm::LOL::ROFLMAO:

Second thought is. It's a Hamster cage pocket sized Incubator.:LOL:
 
It doesn't seem big enough for all the ice and it doesn't have a strainer to keep the ice out of the martini glass, but otherwise that's exactly what it looks like to me ...

We thought of that too but it seem too impractical as a shaker. It's a chore just to load the thing in the first place, unscrewing the retaining rode to break loose the glass jar. The process seems too awkward to use as a cocktail shaker. Also, there is no cap on the spout.

I still like the oil pourer idea.
 
A Google similar image search brings up everything from wedding rings to percussion cap pistols, but nothing that looks anything like the gadget we are trying to identify. Any idea what the capacity of the glass tube is?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom