articles of delight - liquid dispensers

I like to cook and one area of my interest is affordable food in Asian countries. Asian cuisines use a large variety of liquid condiments and sauces. Over the years I have bought many dispensers and found what works and what doesn't. Here are some that I enjoy using.

stainless steel liquid dispenser from Hong Kong
This one is made of very thin gauge stainless steel. It is very common for dispensing condiments in Hong Kong and I believe it is regional to that with Cantonese cuisine. It is one of the best dispenser for cooking oil. The thin lip of the spout leaves very little residual oil hence don't tend to make a mess very little the oil drips down along the outside of the spout. The design is more than what meets the eyes. There is this flip-up lid for replenishing, and yet the fixed front 1/3 keep the liquid from leaking out of the top during pouring. The no handle design is deliberate because one grabs the top when use.

A handle would take up precious space. I like the archetypical design. See how precious little space they take up in the picture below.

It is suited for low to medium viscosity (from soy sauce, vinegar, to cooking oil)


If you look for this the chance is you would find the ones with handle - they are not archetype.

plastic liquid dispenser from Japan
They are a lot of plastic liquid dispensers. Very few are well design or made. I found these for a mere $1.5 each in a San Francisco Japantown "dollar store". They are made in Japan with flawless finish.

The lip of the container and the lid form a tight seal and there is a tiny vent hole on the lid. The liquid pours in a thin stream and has a clean release. Very little mess.

Pour very nicely for low viscosity liquid like soy sauce. Different color lids to denote different condiments. Can be a work horse in a high traffic restaurant.

ceramic liquid dispenser from Japan

Both of these are classic timeless pieces from Japan. The left one is very simple. To use one have to hold onto the lid with one finger. Can be a problem if you guest is mindless. This one is available in 2 sizes and a large assortment of colors

The one on the right is best suited for thin sauce like soy sauce or vinegar. It is a timeless design taking advantage of surface tension. A tour de force of simplistic elegance of folk art and insight into physics.  and it pours in a beautiful thin stream - thus affording precise control of the aim and amount one wishes to dispense. When exit from the container, the liquid follows the channel forms between the lid and the neck. It then clinks to the groove on the underside of the lid and releases by the tip. It is my favorite dispenser and I have 3 with different color/design. I first saw this in a ramen blog and was determine to find it. I later found them in the cookware street in Asakusa North of Tokyo when I visited Japan.

sugar dispenser from Germany

I came across these in a Pottery Barn store 2 decades ago. Their astute design stood out like a sore thumb in a store where other goods are so country, rustic and floral. Upon close inspection I snap them up. The one on the left is very similar to the common ones seen in dinners, except scaled down by about 1/3 for residential use. It pours nicely and in slower rate thus affording precise measurement. Love them.

kikkoman soy sauce dispenser - Japan
For decades it was impossible to find a good soy sauce dispensers in the West except this Kikkoman bottle. It is the container for the smaller size and one can replenish it from a 1 gallon size when you run out. This same design remain unchanged since 1961. It pour very nicely in a thin stream. The liquid has a clean release from the well designed tip. It is the work horse in my kitchen for decades and still is.

Update Mar 27, 13 - flipping an old design magazine Abitare from 2006 I came across this article that the Kikkoman dispensor was amongst the selected modern design classics compilation by Phaidon. It is called Design Classics that compiled 999 objects. The compilation consists of a 3 volume set. For those who are not familiar with this publisher, Phaidon publishes the best design books and magazines.

soft plastic liquid dispensers - assorted origins

My experience with soft plastic dispenser has been mixed at best. They generally suffer from one common fault. They are very difficult to clean, especially if you use them for oil. Soft plastic has very strong attraction (surface tension) to oil. I would use the ones with cap mainly in my camper where spillage is a concern. I like to use the right most one for dish detergent as it dispenses the medium viscosity nicely.

The one in the middle has a novel design which has two zones that you squeeze. Because there is a plastic cylinder in the center that limit how far you can squeeze thus dispenses a measured amount. I bought it just for fun not expect it to perform as designed.