Ramekin is thought to come from a Dutch word for "toast" or the German for "little cream."




Name

Ramekin

Variant

Ramequin, Ramekin dish.

Pronounced

(ramə kin)[RAM-ih-kihn]ræməkin

Function

English Noun

Plural

Ramekins

Hypernym

A type of dish

Purpose

Cooking

Etymology

French Ramequin from Low German ramken, diminutive of cream, circa 1706. middle Dutch rammeken (cheese dish) dialect variant of rom (cream), similar to old English ream and German rahm. Ancient French cookbooks refer to ramekins as being garnished fried bread.


Meaning

1. A food mixture, (casserole) specifically a preparation of cheese, especially with breadcrumbs and/or eggs or unsweetened pastry baked on a mould or shell.

2. With a typical volume of 50-250 ml (2-8 oz), it is a small fireproof glass or earthenware individual dish similar in size and shape to a cup, or mould used for cooking or baking and serving sweet or savoury foods.

3. Formerly the name given to toasted cheese; now tarts filled with cream cheese.

4. A young child usually between the ages of 3 months and 11 years exhibiting a compulsion to force or "ram" their head into various objects and structures.

These days, a ramekin is generally regarded as a small single serve heatproof serving bowl used in the preparation or serving of various food dishes, designed to be put into hot ovens and to withstand high temperatures. They were originally made of ceramics but have also been made of glass or porcelain, commonly in a round shape with an angled exterior ridged surface. Ramekins have more lately been standardized to a size with a typical volume of 50-250 ml (2-8 ounce) and are now used for serving a variety of sweet and savoury foods, both entrée and desert.

They are also an attractive addition to the table for serving nuts,dips and other snacks. Because they are designed to hold a serving for just one person, they are usually sold in sets of four, six, or eight. Ramekins now are solid white, round, with a fluted texture covering the outside, and a small lip. Please bear in mind that whatever you ask for them on Internet auction sites, someone is still getting the same thing in an op shop for peanuts.

However, there are hundreds of decorative ramekins that came in a variety of shapes and sizes. They came in countless colours and finishes and many were made by our leading artists and ceramicists. My collection has ramekins with One handle only, fixed to the body at one point only. If it has no handle, it is a bowl. If it has two, it is a casserole dish. But the glory day of the Australian Studio Art ramekin is well and truly over. See some here, ask questions or leave answers.

P.S. Remember, just as real men don't eat quiche, real ramekins don't have lids or two handles. Also remember, two handles makes it a casserole dish. Also, please note If it aint got a handle, it's just a bowl.

P.P.S. To all you cretins who advertise your ramekins by associating them with "Eames" or "Eames Era". Get your hand off it, you are not kidding anyone. The Eames people have told me that they never made ramekins.

P.P.P.s To all the illiterates out there in cyberspace, just as there is no "I" in team, there is no "G" in Ramekin. I am the Rameking, they are ramekins.

If you have a set of Grandma's ramekins at the back of a kitchen cupboard, have a look through the site, maybe you will identify them. Thank-you for looking.

There are many of you out there that have knowledge of Australian pottery. Please let me know if you have anything that I can add to the notes. It is important to get the information recorded. You probably know something that nobody else does.

Please note that while your comments are most welcome, any that contain a link to another site will no longer be published.

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Ramekin Forks


Eventually most dinnerware is upgraded for more affluent diners.  This is also the case with ramekins.  Silver tableware had been around for quite a few centuries but in America towards the end of the nineteenth century, a number of makers started producing sterling silver ramekin holders with porcelain inserts.  Usually produced in the Eastern United States to cater to the burgeoning middle classes, these sets were made by the top silversmiths, for example, Tiffany sold their own sets made with Lenox porcelain.  To go with these myriad sets, ramekin forks were developed. 

 A ramekin fork is probably best described as a hybrid spoon.   Known in the US as flatware, they have short wide tines and a lightly curved bowl attached to a handle because they are meant to only pick up a small amount of food at a steep angle from inside a ramekin bowl. 



Collectors can be deceived because some unscrupulous people will remodel an old teaspoon and call it a ramekin fork.  This was done by some of the original makers to use up their old stock and some made by individual makers.  It will have the right hallmarks but could be a modern forgery.  Some are old forgeries because some seconds were remade at the time.  Some later ramekin forks were made in stainless steel.  There are also some European makers of sterling silver ramekins, such as Limoges but in the main it appears to be a particularly American trend, mostly in the New England area and around New York.

Not only did these makers produce ramekin forks, they also made myriad other forks for specific purposes.  The following is a list of many, but probably not all of them.

Asparagus
Corn
Luncheon
Salad
Baked Potato
Crab
Mango
Scallop
Barbecue
Desert
Meat
Seafood
Berry
Dinner
Melon
Serving
Bird
Escargot (Snail)
Olive
Souffle
Breakfast
Fish
Oyster
Spaghetti
Cake
Fondue
Pastry
Strawberry
Canape
Fruit
Pate
Tea
Carving
Garden
Pickle
Toasting
Cheese
Grille
Pie
Terrapin
Cherry
Ice Cream
Pitch
Viande
Cocktail
Lettuce
Place

Cold Cuts
Lobster
Ramekin


Way back in the seventies, that decade that style forgot but keeps talking about, splayds were an essential gift for any newly married couple.  They are the closest thing to a ramekin fork today, but are much larger.  Look up other images for ramekin forks and you will see what I mean but don’t look for any more of them on my site because they can be quite expensive.  I copied these pictures.






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