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I’ve been reading Wellen, a novel by Eduard Keyserling and I’ve come across the rare word Grützespann. The context is:
Als die Sonne rot durch die Birkenstämme schien, schlugen sie den Heimweg ein. Sie begegneten Arbeitern vom Felde zurückkehrend, Männer in weißen Leinwandhosen, hinter ihnen her die Frauen mit dem Grützespann in der Hand.
What kind of an object is it?
The only things I found are here (p. 271) and here (p. 94/88). According to these documents a "Grützspann" is either some kind of "Suppenschüssel" (tureen, bowl) or a larger container (like a bucket) for "Saure Grütze" (some sort of red fruit jelly).
I think the different spelling ("Grützspann" vs. "Grützespann") is just artistic freedom. I admit that I never heard the word before (and Google didn't either (almost)), but it would fit.
The Brockhaus from 1894 supplies this information:
Grütze, grobgemahlenes von den Hülsen befreites Getreide […] Russische oder braune Grütze, die zuerst in einer eisernen Pfanne trocken geröstet und dann im Wasser ausgequollen ist, gibt man in Russland zu der Nationalkohlsuppe.
So, as tofro points out, Grütze also means coarsely ground grain, as can be seen by the word Hafergrütze. The second part describing a recipe from Russia, where Grütze is roasted in an iron pan to be added to cabbage soup, would suggest, that your word is composite of Grütze and Pfanne (engl. pan, also pronounced Pann in some German regions). The geographical context seems appropriate, since Keyserling came from Latvia bordering to Russia.
Update: Unfortunately the larger context, which I added to the question, is inappropriate for mentioning kitchen equipment.
