Family Chow Hall

French Rolling Pin

June 17th, 2009

Hello Folks!

Apologies — I had an issue with my blog format and got a bit lazy about fixing it, but I am back now and determined to keep my blog more up-to-date than I have in recent months.

News item from the Hochstettler kitchen… After nearly 20 years of marriage and countless pies, my rolling pin was malfunctioning. I had the “regular” kind that most people have - handles on either end of a fairly large wooden rolling pin, the middle spins freely while the cook hangs onto the handles. This always worked just fine for me and, trust me, I’ve never had any complaints about my pies. A couple of months or so ago, when my old faithful rolling pin began sticking so that it wasn’t spinning freely like it should, I checked out rolling pins and decided to give a French Rolling Pin or Tapered Rolling pin a try.

The one I picked is a Vic Firth French Rolling Pin, made of maple:

Vic Firth, by the way, is a famous drummer and maker of drumsticks, who has apparently moved into the chefware arena.

I told myself that for $12.95, I would give this tapered rolling pin a try, but I was largely unconvinced that I would like it. I don’t like learning new things, and since I already knew how to operate my traditional rolling pin, I was pretty sure that I would end up wanting to buy one just like the one I’d had before. At best, I thought it would take me a while to adjust to using the tapered pin.

I was SO wrong. When I opened the package, I immediately fell in love with this thing. Honestly. With no finish, this maple pin was the smoothest piece of wood I’ve ever handled. I was busy that week and didn’t have reason to use it right away, but found myself just slipping it through my hands while I was in the kitchen. When I finally did put it to use, I instinctively knew just how to use it. Having tapered ends means you can turn it and change angles quickly and easily, almost without thinking. You can also easily adjust pressure to get a very even thickness on whatever you are rolling out.

With this French rolling pin, I feel like I can make pie crust, pizza crust, etc. just as thin as I want. It is truly a joy to use.

I know this blog post sounds like an ad; it really isn’t meant to. I just simply haven’t bought anything for my kitchen in a long time that I have liked so much.

Entry Filed under: Book Reviews, Mixed bag, Pie, Table talk