Help us identify this Unidentified Fork Object (UFO)
Posted by Paula Nemzek on 06/09/2009
Executive Producer KCTS 9 Cooks and Chefs
Executive Producer KCTS 9 Cooks and Chefs
We unearthed this mystery utensil during a recent KCTS kitchen cleanout, and don’t have the faintest idea what it is. Any guesses? On the neck it says "Regd 911032 Made in England."
The UFO is about 7 inches long, wood-grain plastic handle.
Can anybody help?
Unidentified Fork Object (top view)
Unidentified Fork Object (side view)
Paula Nemzek is the Executive Producer of KCTS 9 Cooks and Chefs. Paula's Weekly Kitchen Tips publishes every Monday.
We just found one in our kitchen, this site proved very helpful, but this UFO is still a riddle to my entire family!
I have one of these which has an ornate porcelain handle and a stamp that reads Floraine, E.A. Harris & Co., Sheffield England, Stainless. It seems to be some sort of carving or slicing fork, but would love to know for sure. Has anyone found the answer?
Hi there,
We are a family from Melbourne, holidaying in Mallacoota and have just purchased this UFO from the local thrift shop.
After sitting at lunch today trying to determine the object's use, we decided to hit the net.
Googling the rego number on the handle, suprisingly we came across this site dedicated to our $3 buy!!
We like the spit idea, using the tool to pull the rod ut of the roast but we will continue our quest to discover its true calling!!
Thanks for the ideas and help
I think these tines are used for carving slices of meat or poultry in slices of the same thickness. They are the guides.
Picture this: the knife is in your right hand, and this item in your left, you can gently steady the chicken without piercing it, or you can whack it with the prongs to really hold it
Should also point out: by "a meat carving set" I mean "a fairly random collection of knives, prongs, forks, skewers etc, which appeared to cover pretty much all meat-related eventualities."
My mother (in England) had one of these -it was indeed part of a meat carving set.
I can't, however, tell you any more than that, as I never saw her use it.
Having carved many a turkey (and having watched my father carve turkeys and roasts), I would bet the farm that it is NOT a tool for carving meat. It would be very awkward, even useless. And all the carving sets that I have seen have regular-looking forks.
Also, that doesn't explain the metal notch next to the handle. Given the shape of the handle that notch would be positioned underneath, not on top.
I vote for the removing-meat-from-a-spit idea from Sara.
I posted this photo on my Facebook page to see if anyone knew the answer. Fortunately, I have friends who are librarians (I LOVE LIBRARIANS!) and one sent me this:
There was another site trying to find the answer for this, and although they never got a definitive one, the most convincing answer was that it is a tool for helping to remove a spit from meat. The forked "palm" is placed against/into the meat, with the spit in the "C groove" in the handle, and the spit is then pulled out of the meat, which remains... Read More stuck to the tines. Seems a fairly good explantion. The only other strand I could get is that there appears to have been one of these devices for sale on eBay some time back, as part of a boxed set of "Sheffield Steel" containing this thing and two knives. Which supports its use to grapple with either spitted meat or some sort of round roast, maybe.
Maybe you should check with Antiques Roadshow UK to see if they know what it is.
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