I use dishers for both shaping and portion control. They’re versatile tools in the kitchen. I love the Hamilton Beach color-coded ones too, as they make it easy to grab the right size quickly. Last night, I used a large one for serving rice in a neat mound for a Thai red curry. And sometimes, I use a small disher as a melon baller. It’s less about specific portions for me and more about the art of plating. I’m considering getting a couple more sizes to enhance my options.
I think what makes a disher a disher is the internal “windshield wiper”. Mine don’t work too well on very hard ice cream.
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Yep. We have that thingie (unofficially I just decided to rename it the Descoopinator™) in the two cookie scoops.
The ice cream scoop is absent the descoopinator and is really a rounded-out rectangular spoon rather than being half a sphere like the others.
Literally had to google the term so I guess the answer is no. I do use a spoon for cookies and an ice cream scoop for matzoh balls. Sometimes. Big fan of eyeballing things here.
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That’s good portion control, given how small eyeballs are ;-D
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Sigh…
I have (from largest to smallest):
#8
#10
#14 <— two of these, I’ll sometimes dirty both in one day
#20
#30
#40
#50
#70
#100
I like them for ease of production, consistancy of quantity, and predictability of cooking time. If my recipe is for 8 scones, I want 8 identical scones every single time, all of which bake to temperature at (or about) the anticipated time. Same goes for meatballs. Same goes for cookies.
I never use them for ice cream. I have a special scoop for that. 
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Man, we had holsters for the Salad and Jerky Shooters, but you need a bandoleer for 10 dishers!
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Wow. Yesterday spouse made chocolate chip cookies and weighed each one to ensure uniform size. He would love your approach and equipment
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Stocking stuffer ideas for a lifetime!
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Surprisingly, the Hamilton Beach models don’t come cheap.
Webstaurantstore.com seems to have a good selection of the HB brand at a reasonable price. I prefer the scoops with the squeeze handle. My latest acquistions have been from Amazon, without issue. The largest sizes are not inexpensive, but they do make my life easier, so for me it is money well spent.
I too learned a new term.
I most often use my scoops for muffin batter or cookie dough.
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You’re in good company. I indirectly asked David Lebovitz what the French word was for disher, and the answer came back: “ice cream scoop”. The mutual friend who asked him hadn’t heard of dishers, either.
However… In 1897, the inventor called this a disher. See, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_L._Cralle And that’s what most resto supply houses call them. See, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoop_(utensil) :
“In the technical terms used by the food service industry and in the retail and wholesale food utensil industries, there is a clear distinction between three types of scoop: the disher , which is used to measure a portion e.g. cookie dough, to make melon balls, and often to serve ice cream (although manufacturers frequently advise against using dishers for ice cream and other frozen foods);[citation needed] ice cream scoops, and the scoop which is used to measure or to transfer an unspecified amount of a bulk dry foodstuff such as rice, flour, or sugar.”
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Where / how do you store them?
For the good of the order, the # designation is supposed to be the number of portions per quart of volume.
I have one each of #8 and #20, and two smaller unmarked ones.
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Lol! This could be the topic of an entire separate thread, which I would title “How Small Is Your Kitchen?”
I have an 85-square-foot galley kitchen, with a 35-square-foot “pantry” off of it (originaly built as a small laundry room). Among other storage solutions, we have put a lot of shelving into that pantry, some of which is dedicated to medium-sized, lidded, rubbermaid-ish storage totes. The scoops live in one of those totes, along with dough-stamps, English muffin rings, injectors, and other lightweight, bulky stuff which I use often, but not necessarily every day.
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Same. Dishers don’t work well for ice cream.
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Ha, same here. TIL a disher is what I’ve been referring to as an ice cream scoop, regardless what food it is actually scooping.
Agree, a real ice cream scoop or spade is a requirement, unless the product is quite soft. The internet is replete with ice cream pros saying as much.
I have pantry envy.
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