A bar spoon is one of the bartender's professional tools needed to mix cocktails. Its length is longer than that of an ordinary teaspoon, because the glasses and glasses in which these drinks are served differ in height from tea cups. But its volume is less than that of a teaspoon - only 5 g. In addition, a fork, a tablet-shaped or round part can be soldered at the end of a bar spoon. But the most important difference is the spiral handle.
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Instruction manual
1
To use a bar spoon correctly, a certain skill is needed, which, of course, will come with experience. This tool is used for those cocktails that do not require aeration of the ingredients, their contact with the air - for this, a shaker serves. But a spoon is needed when you just need to cool a mixture of drinks with ice, which is already in the glass. When stirring a cocktail with a bar spoon, you should make smooth movements in one direction. Ideally, with proper stirring, even the ringing of ice cubes in a glass should not be heard - they all move at the same speed, without touching or colliding with each other.
2
An experienced bartender will be able to correctly determine the stirring time. If you interfere long enough, the cocktail will not have time to cool, if you overdo it, the ice will melt and the drink will be too diluted. If the size of the crushed ice is large, the number of mixing movements can reach 40, 50 and even 60 times. This can be controlled by how much the pieces of ice have decreased. Hard rules do not exist here - use your own intuition and experience.
3
In addition to stirring cocktails, a bar spoon can measure the ingredients added to them, because its volume is known. When making layered cocktails, bartenders often use it, turning it upside down and resting on the edge of the glass, pouring another layer of the drink on a spoon. The metal ball or knob at the end of the spoon is called madeler and is used to chop and crush fruits. It is convenient to use a fork by adding berries or olives from a can to a cocktail, and the tablet is used for preparing layered cocktails and for mashing mint with ice, for example, for making Mojito. Sometimes a bar spoon has a practical purpose for someone who will drink a cocktail - for example, if its handle is in the shape of a tube.
Useful advice
Have in your arsenal a few bar spoons for making different cocktails.