It’s been a long while since I have featured single-use implements or ceramics for the dinner table. On a recent visit to sister’s apartment, I spied two unusual plates which she must have acquired on a trip to Paris earlier in the Fall. Up top, a plate for baked scallops or Coquilles St. Jacques. Not only is the plate limited to scallops, but more specifically to a particular preparation of scallops. Talk about single-use. I suppose you could extend the uses and place all manner of shellfish on these plates… :)
The second plate is specifically for serving artichokes. There is a place for the whole steamed/boiled artichoke, and around it areas to put the leaves that you have gently passed between your upper and lower teeth to remove the edible bits of artichoke, and a place for some butter or vinaigrette. Can’t imagine there is any other use for this specific plate. Ah, gone are the days when all these single-use implements were the stuff of hostesses trying to one-up their kumares or neighbors… Oh, egads, i just did an archive search and seems I featured these plates before, in this previous post, in actual use… :)
For more “single-use” posts, you might want to check out:
Sterling Silver Asparagus Server
Sterling Silver Grape Scissors
Sterling Silver Serving Spoon and Forks
Sterling Silver Tomato Servers
Sterling Silver Bonbon Server
A Sterling Silver Bone Holder
Sterling Silver Bone Marrow (Bulalo) Spoon
Ceramic Oyster Plates
Silver Candle Snuffer
15 Responses
whoah! there are very nice.
it feels like im at a fine dining resto if I get to these at home.
The scallop serving plate looks cool! it feels like your actually plucking the scallops from the sea/ocean floor before eating them! (although i don’t know if many people will find that appetizing) very nice stuff! :)
Hi MM – just went through your single-use posts and was amazed at your collection. i really had a chuckle after reading all the comments about the bone holder. and i was just watching the ‘antique roadshow’ on pbs last night and while reading your post about the tiffany antique grape scissors, wondered how much will that be assessed right now (not that you will part with it!). these implements are beautiful… congrats on your treasures and for having such a loving and generous sister… pwede bang pa-adopt ako? (-:
Love all these special dishes!!
Single use plates/implements are not difficult to find in French flea markets, the detritus of bygone eras when dining was fraught with ceremony. This set of Saraguimenes was purchased at a brocantes near the Universite. Hand carried the12 plates through customs, no problem. They’ll just have to line my coffin with these and other single use items I have for the big dinner in the sky, or down under.
Forgot to show MM the other market finds, will have to wait for next visit…
Oh, Sister….now more than ever, I have to see Paris before I croak. But maybe next best thing while waiting for the chance to go to France is to go to estate sales. Sister, I know it is a long shot ….but did you happen to see something remotely similar to a tsokolatera in the brocantes? If you do, can you let me know please as I have a friend who must go to Paris (where she is from) several times a year to look after her ailing mother. I know I can buy them at Williams-Sonoma but what I am looking for is something that has character.
MM check this out I saw this on ebay https://cgi.ebay.com/Majolica-VINTAGE-FRENCH-MAJOLICA-OYSTER-PLATE-LONGCHAMP-/220359787389?pt=Antiques_Decorative_Arts&hash=item334e77837d it looks almost exactly as the scallop plate
MartinL, yipes, $165 each? You’d have to eat a LOT of Coquilles St. Jacques to make up for the price… :)
Martini,
Old majolica plates go for a lot on ebay or at antique auctions, there is a very active collectors market, I actually just buy them to use. They are not difficult to find at French flea markets, there are always a few of them but rarer are complete sets of 12 in perfect condition. The ones MM featured were purchased for 60 euros for a set of 12 that looked like they spent their previous life in a cabinet. Sometimes a large serving platter is available as well, unfortunately it broke at the tussle at the airport trying to get the luggage under 20 kilos.
Betty Q,
No need to go to Paris for a tsokolatera, try Despana online or other Spanish sites like La Tienda. Enamelled ones you can actually put over a flame are available and they are more practical than the china ones from Limoges.
If you get to Paris there are two stores for a an energetic cook like you: Dehilleran and J. De Tou, the first for equipement and the second for every known baking ingrdient necessary for pastry.
Estate sales are wonderful hunting grounds for table top items.
Wow! the scallops plate, i want :) very fancy….
sister, sorry to hear about the broken platter. you kept me in stitches about that big dinner in the sky…or wherever!
thank you for the tip, Sister. You asked me once how big is my garden….I havea 25′ x 60′ plot in the community garden here. I t is a good location since it is part of an agricultural land …GVRD and therefore nothing can be built around it….the sun shines all day long. NOw, I can just imagine the size of your China cabinet, too!
MM, that is one reason why you have to continue the blog, even if hinay hinay na lang – BECAUSE it gives us a chance to sit in on the interesting and informative conversations like – between sister and bettyq and you and martinL – it is like being in a cyber tertulia. thank you.
MM, I’m also happy you’re back blogging…
Hi! Just wanted to ask where I can buy steel-cut oats and flaxseeds here in Manila? I miss baked scallops…. Thanks!