So I am going to get a few dishers for my kitchen and was curious what sizes people think would be useful to get?  Right now I was thinking a 16, 20, 40, & 100… any suggestions?

EFaden - 07 November 2009 09:41 PM

So I am going to get a few dishers for my kitchen and was curious what sizes people think would be useful to get?  Right now I was thinking a 16, 20, 40, & 100… any suggestions?

After going through a bunch of different types and styles and materials, I have finally settled on 18-8 stainless steel squeeze-action types where the blade extends beyond the bowl to prevent sticking. With the squeeze-type, it does not matter whether you are right or left-handed, and even if you decide to serve ice cream with them, dipping them into hot water between each serving makes them release well. The disher size denotes the number of servings per quart, i.e., a size 30 will make 30 servings (approx 1 oz) of a quart of ice cream.  I am a gadget freak, so I m not the person to ask about which sizes to get, but I use the 30, the 20, the 16 (approx 2 oz), the 12, and the 40’s the most especially when making cookies and when I have thick batters for cupcakes that don’t do well with a bag (i.e. walnuts or pecans or fruit like frozen blueberries in the batter).  Larger sizes I have, but really never use them, deferring to measuring cups at that point. I might consider a 60, as it is approx one tablespoon.

Disher sizes:
Scoop size             fl.oz.        cups           ml
#4                       8             1             236
#5                       6.4         .8             190                      
#6                       5.33         .67           158
#8                       4             .5             118
#10                     3.2           .4             95
#12                     2.58         .32             76
#16                     2             .25             59
#20                     1.6           .2             47
#24                     1.33         .16             39
#30                     1.06         .13             32
#40                       .8           .10             24
#60                     .053         .06             16
You must scrape the disher flat to get these yields

HTH

Great disher info Tom! 

I have 5 of them… various sizes.  I use them for everything from ice cream to cookie dough, to rice, mashed potatoes, meatballs, muffins… etc.  If I had more storage room, I’d buy a few more.

You could start with one that’s the right size to fill your muffin pans 2/3 to 3/4 full—and another the right size for mini-muffins. Those are the ones I use the most. I don’t know what numbers they correspond to, though.

The number is usually located on the sweeper arm.

Tom, great information, thank you.

Patrincia, I never knew this. I always thought it was somewhere else on the disher, and I could never find the number on any of mine.  One I see today, has 30 on the sweeper arm.  The others are unmarked, so I have no clue.

Bungalow Barbara - 08 November 2009 02:28 PM

You could start with one that’s the right size to fill your muffin pans 2/3 to 3/4 full—and another the right size for mini-muffins. Those are the ones I use the most. I don’t know what numbers they correspond to, though.

  Barbara, try filling your muffins to the desired level with water (just one muffin pan cup), then pour the water into a graduated cylinder to see what the volume is in ml.  Alternately, you could use a syringe (easiest to use a 60 ml syringe graduated in ml) and fill it full of water, then fill your muffin pan cup to the desired level from the syringe.  You can then match the ml volume used to the disher size you desire.  If you want to be really precise, measure the diameter of the tin and square its radius ( the value of the radius is one-half the diameter, measure all parameters in cm to get final answer in ml), then multiply it times an approximation of pi (3.1416).  Take the resulting product and multiply the depth you want the batter to be at when the muffin cup is 3/4-full (etc.) to get the volume of the disher you’d want to use.  The number will not be exact beyond a ml or so using this formula as the diameter of the cups will vary based on how steep the taper of the cup actually is.  Best approximation will be to use the diameter of the cup halfway up the final batter depth you desire.  We could use the volume formula for a truncated cone, but the cylinder parameters are easier to measure and close enough for our purposes.

My cup volumes for muffin pans vary from one brand of 4-cup muffin pan to the next manufacturer, not to mention the 6-cup, 8-cup, 12-cup, 24-cup (numbers of muffin depressions, not volume “cups”...), but they are close, see THIS LINK for the standard sizes.  These is also info at this link for how full a tin should be based on what kind of batter is being prepared.  I just experiment w/ approximations or pour the batter in a zip lock bag for shaped tins (like Halloween pumpkin muffin tins or bundt-ettes.

HTH

I have two.  (I don’t have the numbers handy) but one is little (scooping cookie dough) and one is larger (filling muffin tins)

i have one that is 1/8cup that i use for cookies. Ok i had no idea this was called a disher??!?

SweetNess14445 - 10 November 2009 08:40 AM

i have one that is 1/8cup that i use for cookies. Ok i had no idea this was called a disher??!?

Some people call them ice cream dishers, I’ve also seen portion scoops, ice cream scoops, cookie scoops, etc.

So I ordered few, got them yesterday.  Just made some muffins with a #16 Vollrath.  Holy cow it makes it much easier…. scoop, press… scoop, press… etc… much easier than having to use a spatula and a tablespoon…