A Prized Serving Utensil Gives Chef Ana Ortiz an Edge in the Kitchen

The founder of Brooklyn catering company Day Into Night tells us why she’s always reaching for her grandmother’s serving spoon.

Mar 15, 2022 - 02:00
A Prized Serving Utensil Gives Chef Ana Ortiz an Edge in the Kitchen

The founder of Brooklyn catering company Day Into Night tells us why she’s always reaching for her grandmother’s serving spoon.

Ana Ortiz, a chef and food writer, as well as the founder of Brooklyn catering company Day Into Night, is big on improvising. She learned on the job at rustic farm-to-table establishments before getting into the fine-dining world in 2013. Around then, she found her grandmother’s unique serving spoon. She now keeps it at hand for every outing.

I’m always on the lookout for interesting kitchen tools—things that might have a unique purpose that will help me cook. I was at my dad’s house, looking for something in his kitchen, when I found this spoon that belonged to my grandmother, and I was like, Whoa, this is meant for me—it would be perfect for quenelling!

Ana Ortiz, a chef and food writer, as well as the founder of Brooklyn catering company Day Into Night, is big on improvising. She learned on the job at rustic farm-to-table establishments before getting into the fine-dining world in 2013. Around then, she found her grandmother’s unique serving spoon. She now keeps it at hand for every outing.

Ana Ortiz, a chef and food writer, as well as the founder of Brooklyn catering company Day Into Night, is big on improvising. She learned on the job at rustic farm-to-table establishments before getting into the fine-dining world in 2013. Around then, she found her grandmother’s unique serving spoon. She now keeps it at hand for every outing.

Photo: Jamie Chung

Quenelles are dumplings traditionally made of creamed fish, but the name can also just refer to the shape, like an egg. In pastry, we do them with ice cream or whipped cream, and I had just learned how. Stores have special tools shaped a bit like this, more narrow toward the edge so they create the quenelle more easily, but I thought this was perfect, because it’s so pointy and has a deep bowl. I don’t know what it was originally for. It’s really exquisite—I think it’s silver, and it has a patina and some lettering that’s fading.

I love that it was my grandmother’s. Her house in Puerto Rico always smelled like good food. I remember bits of her cooking, things like a Cuban fried doughnut or this very green olive oil that she’d pour over lentils, but I don’t have tons of strong food memories of her because she passed away when I was a teenager. Now, this spoon is always in my kit. I take it to every job that I do, and I’m very protective of it. I don’t let anyone borrow it unless they’re a very specific person who I know will bring it back.

When you’re cooking, you always want to have spoons around to taste things, stir, scoop something out, or swoosh things on plates, and I find this spoon so intriguing because it has that point, which makes it so handy for a lot of things. If I had to take a single spoon to a desert island, this would be the one.

As told to: Duncan Nielsen

Project Credits:

Photography: Jamie Chung / @jamiechungstudio

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