Why Martha Stewart Swears By This Ladle, And Where To Get A Copycat

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You've just made the perfect pot of soup, and you've enjoyed a bowl, or two, or three, and it's time to pack up the rest into the fridge so you can enjoy it for lunch tomorrow. Then, you realize you have to figure out the arduous task of moving your soup from the pot on the stove to the containers that will fit in your fridge or freezer. You've tried pouring it from one container to another, you've tried using a ladle. Maybe you've even tried setting up some sort of funnel contraption. Inevitably, however, soup ends up on your counter or stove, and you're left with a mess to clean up. To no one's surprise, culinary maven Martha Stewart sells a solution that makes a soupy stovetop a thing of the past. Enter: her Sprucedale stainless steel square ladle.

The ladle makes it ever-so-easy to transfer soup to one container to another. The squared-off edges give you a corner to pour from, lessening the likelihood that your soup simply runs down the bottom of the ladle and back into the pot (or worse, onto the counter). Stewart doesn't just use her square ladle when she's making her trademark butternut squash soup — she also loves it for making jelly. "You know, usually, a ladle's round or oval, but this is a square one with a handle on one side. So, it's like when you're filling jelly jars, you pour out a corner," Stewart said of the ladle on her podcast, "Martha Talks."

To no one's surprise, Martha Stewart's ladle is tough to get — it's regularly sold out. Thankfully, there are other options that can make it easier to move liquids from one container to another without making a mess. Looking for any ladle that offers a squared-off or spouted portion can take some of the stress out of liquid transfer when you're cooking. There's an OXO steel ladle has pointed sides that can make it less likely that you'll experience liquid running down the sides of the scoop, as well as a Zulay Kitchen soup ladle that offers pointed corners.

If you don't have a snazzy square ladle on hand to move your favorite roasted tomato soup from one place to another, there are still ways that you can make less of a mess than a standard ladle. You can also try holding a spoon vertically and pouring the soup down the back of the spoon, allowing the liquid to follow the path of the spoon instead of splashing out of the bottom of the bowl. If you're pouring soup into freezer bags for storage, try placing the bag inside a tall glass, opening the top of the bag and folding it over the rim of the glass, and then pouring the soup directly into the bag.