The whisk

A handy tool

A handy tool

The whisk is one of the oldest and most familiar kitchen utensils: as simple and useful as it is practical and ingenious. Found in the drawers of chefs and grandmothers alike, its story goes hand in hand with those of many recipes. Without it, no roux and no emulsions (so goodbye mayonnaise).

The whisk has been passed down to us with a long heritage of recipes and how to make them. It was the result of a meeting between the act of mixing and the bright idea of bringing as much air as possible into a preparation, or of agitating it in order to smooth the mixture. Children often like to give it a try as their first cooking experience.

Keeping the rhythm

Along with a good sense of rhythm, the whisk is the secret behind numerous airy recipes. It beats omelettes and zabagliones, fuses vinaigrettes and mayonnaises, whips up whites and whipped cream. It binds salty sauces, chocolate mixtures or pastry fillings, and keeps crêpes and béchamel sauce lump free. The act of whisking is easy, quick to learn, fun and joyful. There’s magic in this little tool that instantly gives you a feel for the pleasure of cooking.

In practice

For maximum performance, the whisk should have a handle that’s not too thick (2.5cm) allowing a good grip. Not too long (28cm), in order to fit all receptacles. No less than 10 balloon-shaped wires, rounded enough to aerate the mixture, flexible enough to strike and reverberate against the wall of the bowl, with enough spring to be effective.

The whisk engraves in the memory a movement essential to cooking. The longer, more rigid versions, with large handles, are better suited to thick sauces. They require a more strenuous effort and have fortunately been replaced by machines.

A bit of history

The whisk was initially a simple bundle of apple or peach tree twigs. Then an unknown genius came up with the idea of bending strands of wicker into a balloon shape and attaching them to a handle. Made of metal from the middle of the 19th century, today’s whisks are made of stainless steel or silicone. Many gourmets express a preference for metal, which they feel sounds better and beats harder. Grabbing the kitchen whisk to beat eggs or cream, hearing the wires rattle in the bowl, finding the right rhythm for smoothing or emulsifying – whisking is a small pleasure that’s accessible to one and all.

It's all in the writstThe whisk is the secret of all the airy recipes that you might choose to mix by hand, with a whisk, or with a blender. Wrist movements should be brisk until the mixture begins to thicken. Larger, wider beats will introduce the amount of air needed to make the amixture creamier or emulsify it.

An anecdote

When a chef's recipe suggests using “a giraffe”, in fact it’s an electric whisk or hand blender, with a long neck and a small head equipped with blades.