The New Scoop on Prep
Welcome to Word of Mouth, a blog series dedicated to the unique products and tools that have helped us change the way we cook.
My least favorite instructions when cooking? Divide. Form into equally sized balls. Scoop. Shape into patties. It’s one thing if I’m weighing dough balls for an elaborate baking project or prepping for a dinner party, but if I’m cooking on a weeknight or meal prepping, that tedium is simply something I’m not interested in. Enter the Zeroll Disher. It’s a fast, easy way to dispense hot or cold portioned foods, including—but definitely not limited to—meatballs, cookie dough and ice cream.
To the untrained eye, the Zeroll looks like a souped-up cookie scoop, but the disher is a slightly different beast. Using traditional ice cream scoops to portion food works, sure, but they’re prone to jamming (or worse, breaking) and can cause muscle fatigue after repetitive use. Unlike other models on the market, Zeroll doesn’t have any springs—you simply squeeze the side press with your thumb to move the dispensing gears back and forth—so it won't jam while serving and always has a smooth glide.
Plus, it's designed with a comfortable handle to reduce hand cramps. “The shape of the handle is much more intuitive to use,” says Haley Laube, eCommerce Culinary Coordinator. “Just squeeze with light pressure and move on, no need to move your hand, no hand fatigue.” And it’s true—while the handle of my old cookie scoop is shaped like a triangle, growing wider where my palm gets narrower, the Zeroll is molded the opposite way. It fits snugly into my hand and doesn’t rely on a thumb press up near the bowl, so it works in either of my hands.
Milk Street staff love the Zeroll for the holidays, too, especially for batch after batch of consistent, professional-looking cookies. “I use the dishers for holiday prep and cookies—it makes batch baking so much quicker and more efficient,” says Kaitlin Vardaro, Buyer. “It’s the easiest way to guarantee that my cookies stay the same size when I’m hours into a project.”
Holidays or not, use the Zeroll to scoop anything sweet or savory. It works great with soft ingredients (like cookie dough, pie fillings and jams), ground meat and tuna, chicken or egg salads. Portion soft foods—such as mashed potatoes, meatballs, rice and yogurt—while meal prepping. Use it to drop muffin or cupcake batter into tins with ease or pour even-sized pancakes. Mold falafel balls or fill mushroom caps and dumplings. The Zeroll even works as a melon baller, and can dig out the seeded, spongey cores of fruits and vegetables. The dishers are color coordinated per size—2016 is blue, 2030 is black and 2060 is pink—to help avoid cross-contamination (for, you know, a little extra peace of mind).
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