Ramekin is thought to come from a Dutch word for "toast" or the German for "little cream."




Name

Ramekin

Variant

Ramequin, Ramekin dish.

Pronounced

(ramə kin)[RAM-ih-kihn]ræməkin

Function

English Noun

Plural

Ramekins

Hypernym

A type of dish

Purpose

Cooking

Etymology

French Ramequin from Low German ramken, diminutive of cream, circa 1706. middle Dutch rammeken (cheese dish) dialect variant of rom (cream), similar to old English ream and German rahm. Ancient French cookbooks refer to ramekins as being garnished fried bread.


Meaning

1. A food mixture, (casserole) specifically a preparation of cheese, especially with breadcrumbs and/or eggs or unsweetened pastry baked on a mould or shell.

2. With a typical volume of 50-250 ml (2-8 oz), it is a small fireproof glass or earthenware individual dish similar in size and shape to a cup, or mould used for cooking or baking and serving sweet or savoury foods.

3. Formerly the name given to toasted cheese; now tarts filled with cream cheese.

4. A young child usually between the ages of 3 months and 11 years exhibiting a compulsion to force or "ram" their head into various objects and structures.

These days, a ramekin is generally regarded as a small single serve heatproof serving bowl used in the preparation or serving of various food dishes, designed to be put into hot ovens and to withstand high temperatures. They were originally made of ceramics but have also been made of glass or porcelain, commonly in a round shape with an angled exterior ridged surface. Ramekins have more lately been standardized to a size with a typical volume of 50-250 ml (2-8 ounce) and are now used for serving a variety of sweet and savoury foods, both entrée and desert.

They are also an attractive addition to the table for serving nuts,dips and other snacks. Because they are designed to hold a serving for just one person, they are usually sold in sets of four, six, or eight. Ramekins now are solid white, round, with a fluted texture covering the outside, and a small lip. Please bear in mind that whatever you ask for them on Internet auction sites, someone is still getting the same thing in an op shop for peanuts.

However, there are hundreds of decorative ramekins that came in a variety of shapes and sizes. They came in countless colours and finishes and many were made by our leading artists and ceramicists. My collection has ramekins with One handle only, fixed to the body at one point only. If it has no handle, it is a bowl. If it has two, it is a casserole dish. But the glory day of the Australian Studio Art ramekin is well and truly over. See some here, ask questions or leave answers.

P.S. Remember, just as real men don't eat quiche, real ramekins don't have lids or two handles. Also remember, two handles makes it a casserole dish. Also, please note If it aint got a handle, it's just a bowl.

P.P.S. To all you cretins who advertise your ramekins by associating them with "Eames" or "Eames Era". Get your hand off it, you are not kidding anyone. The Eames people have told me that they never made ramekins.

P.P.P.s To all the illiterates out there in cyberspace, just as there is no "I" in team, there is no "G" in Ramekin. I am the Rameking, they are ramekins.

If you have a set of Grandma's ramekins at the back of a kitchen cupboard, have a look through the site, maybe you will identify them. Thank-you for looking.

There are many of you out there that have knowledge of Australian pottery. Please let me know if you have anything that I can add to the notes. It is important to get the information recorded. You probably know something that nobody else does.

Please note that while your comments are most welcome, any that contain a link to another site will no longer be published.

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Saturday, June 12, 2021

Temuka


Pickings have been very slim during lockdown.  I found these in an Op-Shop recently.  Made in New Zealand and sold in Australia by a Sydney department store, Grace Brothers.  The price stickers are still on the base.  They are more of a flat dish than a ramekins, and have a low volume.

 Researching some potteries, especially from a distance can be problematic, especially when it is obvious that most posts are simply copies of one-another.  This is especially true of Temuka Potteries, just have a look.  Due to the COVID lockdown, it is difficult to travel, even though we have a travel bubble with New Zealand.  Anyway, here goes.

Most of these clones will tell you that the pottery was begun by Arthur Rowden Toplis in the 1930s.  Arthur is described as the third manager of New Zealand Insulators, the parent company of Temuka.  It goes back well before then and well after.

Temuka is a small town located on the Canterbury Plains of the central south island of New Zealand 15km north of Timaru.  The North Otago museum at Oamaru has a collection of Temuka pottery but it seems they want to divest. 

 Way back in 1868, Joseph Whitehead began brickworks in Temuka.  William Hoare and his partner Page began a brickworksnear Whitehead in 1894 in Temuka.  The Temuka Pipe Company took over the works in 1909.  In 1916, was bought by John Redpath.  He owned a small insulator company and asked Peter Mc Skimming to join him.  (I included this bit because Mc Skimming are still a well-known NZ company.)  Dominion Porcelain and Tile took over in 1922.  

New Zealand Insulators took over in 1924.  This is just a potted early history.  There is a lot more but you can chase that up yourself.

Arthur died at Temuka on the 9th of June 1938 at the age of 53.  He was buried at the Temuka Cemetery on the 11th of Hune 1938.  He was survived by his wife Mabel.  The managers before Arthur were RH Taylor (a former owner), and JG (Jock) Ritchie. Arthur is describes as a skilled craftsman and an experienced potter.  Arthur has learned his craft in England, (many Toplis’s are from Derbyshire, in the centre of English potteries.) and later Portugal.

Later, Thomas Pickering took over as manager in 1941.  He had run his own potteryuntil 1938when increasing competition forced it to close.

It was said during the Cold War, (remember that one, boomers?) only three things would survive a nuclear holocaust; ants, cockroaches and New Zealand Railways cups. And the first two would make it only if they were hiding under the cups.

Together with George Pickering, they began making items as Christmas presents for customers of their parent company National Electric and Engineering Company (NEECO).  Things such as vases, teapots and mixing bowls.

We can jump forward to the 1970s now, skipping over a fire in the 1950s that led to resumption of production of electric jug bodies.  In 1966  NEECO was sold to Cable Price Downer Ltd.  Thomas Lovatt was replaced as Manager and the production of domestic pottery declined.  Thomas after his retirement from Temuka together with his sons in 1966 later began Te Rona pottery.  Thomas died in 1966.

These ramekins are a product of the 1970s.  Any colour as long as it is brown.  Temuka produced a range of stoneware in lovely brown.  Remember those sets of kitchen storage jars of varying sizes?  Those lovely brown coffee sets?  So popular, that a new pottery was built in 1977.  Come on boomers, you must have the remnants of a brown stoneware dinner set hidden away at the back of a dusty kitchen cupboard?

Anyway, the company is still in business today.  A lot of their early output is highly collectible, so if you see any, buy them.

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