Whisk, ca 1950
notes: label: Description
content: From the moment when, in 1963, Julia Child whisked up an omelet on the pilot for her new cooking show, The French Chef, Americans wanted that whisk for their kitchens, just as they came to want any tool or utensil that Julia used. Certainly, egg beaters of all sorts were common in American kitchens, and they whipped up the heavy cream and egg whites (for meringues) as well as eggs. But they didn’t have the leverage offered by the European-style whisks that Julia introduced, and they were especially successful in getting air into those soufflés and omelets they were just learning how to cook.
label: Description
content: Although whisks varied in sizes, from tiny to giant, people loved the gigantic balloon whisks Julia had used on television, almost like props, to dramatic and comic effect. Julia loved giant tools, the more outrageous the better. Audience remembered the lessons when Julia deployed her giant whisks, blowtorches, salad spinners, and they learned that some of these tools were actually useful. Still, they especially remembered Julia AND her whisk when next they went to the kitchen store, creating a whole new market for these useful tools. This whisk, a part of Julia’s batterie de cuisine, had served her well in her home kitchen and television kitchen, in some cases the very same space.
place: label: used
content: United States: Massachusetts, Cambridge
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Occupations
label: See more items in
content: Food
label: See more items in
content: FOOD: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000
label: See more items in
content: Julia Child's Kitchen
label: Exhibition
content: Food: Transforming the American Table
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Julia Child
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2001.0253.0638
label: catalog number
content: 2001.0253.0638
label: accession number
content: 2001.0253
objectType: label: Object Name
content: whisk
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: stainless steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 49 cm x 13 cm; 19 9/32 in x 5 1/8 in