Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road

[venta]

Can anyone tell me what they consider to be the defining characteristic (if any) of a fish fork ?

Incidentally, I too can use google. I want to know what you, yourself, with your own mind think constitutes a fish fork.

Comments

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, the key thing about a fish fork is that it matches a fish knife.

As al_fruitbat suggests, the fish knife is indeed one of the middle-classiest things you can get. You see, a fish knife is blunt, because you're not supposed to cut fish; if it's properly cooked, it will come apart naturally in flakes, something that of course the gentry have always known. But when the poor, old, nouveaux riche started going to restaurants when such things were new, they didn't. So fish knives were introduced to stop them upsetting the sensibilities of the proper customers with their zany fish-cutting antics.

With regards any of the other specific properties of the fish fork, dunno. They're often broader tined than regular stabbin' forks, and often (but not always) have three tines (maybe both of these things are simply to help it match the broad-bladed knife). Oh, and they often have an indentation in the... erm... the bit immediately behind the tines, and before the handle.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Y'see, as I understand it the broad-tine thingy on a cake fork is so it can be used in a slightly knife-like way to cut off bits of cake. So, if fish should not be cut, why would the fork have a broad tine ?

I grew up with four-tined fishforks, and am confused at this co-option of things I consider to be cakeforks for piscean purposes.

[secondhand-rick.livejournal.com]

I think it's because, as I suggested on my opening comments to the floor, the only key quality of a fish fork is that it match the fish knife.

So various bods have designed them in various ways, some of which resemble cake forks in an effort to make them not look like normal forks.