Comments on: Skewer for the Masses

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 20:09:58 +0000

Spare us the suspense – where did you find the common man’s skewer?

This writeup is nothing but a tease!

By: billy

billy — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 19:46:12 +0000

I happen to agree with your father sam, but also when looking for anything….let me know…I have lots of silly stuff living in my house(no..I didn’t get a new girlfriend). A skewer set was just donated to me a few weeks ago…along with a rotisserie(b/c ya never know when you’ll come across a large carcass)

hope things are going well with you guys

By: Dad

Dad — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 03:20:14 +0000

Son,
I must rise to the defense of the humble, recyclable, cool-to-the-touch, and all-natural bamboo skewer.
As you no doubt recall from your recent childhood here in Colorado, I often BBQ’d skewers of meat and veggies on bamboo sticks. They do require a brief soaking prior to use to prevent being consumed by the flames, but they serve quite well.

I have found that metal skewers don’t “grab” the food stuffs as firmly as natural woody-grass materials, so with metal the food rotates in situ on the grill instead of turning over with the skewer—- very frustrating!

Metal is likewise always HOT, even after a minute or two off the flame, while bamboo, as a naturally low-density material sheds what little heat it absorbs within seconds—a delight to tiny fingers.

I will grant one advantage to metal—- on occasion I have been pierced by a bamboo splinter from the skewer, a painful experience with a lot of torturous over tones.

Nevertheless, I’m a committed fan of bamboo and just thought I should speak up in defense of this humble material.

Yours for grilled food,

Dad

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 05:57:13 +0000

Hey Sam, you should try the following:
Lelu Metalcraft & Patio Shop Inc
(314) 966-6195
13200 Manchester Rd
Saint Louis, MO 63131

If anyone is going to have them, they will…if you go, let me know what you find.

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 02:47:52 +0000

“There is no room for the humble working man, who desires a simple but durable skewer for preparing his family’s hearty meals over their charcoal grill? Why must we relegate our citizens to pitiful bamboo skewers, clearly meant to be used over a coffee can full of burning animal feces, or glittering titanium skewers to be used over a Grill-Master 3000 grilling station? Is there no middle ground? Why all the extremes?!?”

Perhaps it is a problem of planned obselesence? the functional lifespan of a simple length of stainless steel with a loop on the end.. can be measured in decades. Perhaps the problem in the skewer market was.. that no one was buying them. The marketing departments mistook this “lack of sales” for a “lack of interest” and set about re-designing “easier” and “cooler” skewers.. when the real reason for the drop in sales might just have been that they had successfully supplied the needs of the skewering consumer base years ago.

I mean, if my mother’s skewers will work for me, and her mother’s for her.. why would we need new ones? Bent skewers can simply be unbent. It is only the lost or broken ones that need replacing.

So, the market designs a “cool skewer” with handles that will burn, and spring actiions that will fail in time. So a purchase today will likely result in another purchase a few years down the line.

Or.. perhaps you should just hit a thrift store and buy some used “classic” skewers…

or, look at This Auction on eBay?