I am OBSESSED with this kitchen tool.
Dessert island? This tool is coming with.
Hi there,
How’s it hanging in your kitchen? It’s been smooth sailing in mine with nothing out of the ordinary to report. A little meal prep here, a bit of cooking on the fly there, and no signs of a cooking rut in sight at the moment (peep me getting myself out of a cooking rut in this week’s YouTube video). It’s a great place to be because it’s given me a bit of bandwidth to do some deeper thinking about my own cooking style, recipe writing, and how I might best serve you in helping you get comfier in your kitchen.
While my cooking thinking cap was on, a question crossed my mind: if I could only have a single hand-held kitchen tool, which would I choose? And without a second thought, I knew my answer: My proverbial dessert island kitchen tool is without a doubt, my handy-dandy rubber spatula. Yes, you know I love my microplane, and I’ve written extensively about the joys of a citrus juicer, but there’s nothing I reach for with as much frequency or as much confidence as my good ol’ rubber spatch.
Here’s why a simple rubber spatula is my clear kitchen MVP:
First, let me say that not all rubber spatulas are created equally. I favor one that’s silicone and is made of on single, continuous part. That way…
It’s extremely easy to clean. My favorite brand is dishwasher safe and food definitely won’t be sticking to it. I reach for my rubber spatch with confidence I won’t have to deal with annoying cleanup later. Love that.
Unless a recipe requires vigorous scraping of a pan, well-constructed rubber spatula can take the place of a wooden spoon in most cases. It works amazingly well for all your soup stirring, stir fry sautéing, egg white folding, and cookie dough combining needs.
I’m a noted sauce person and love a good blender recipe. Ever tried getting the last bit of a smoothie out of a blender with a standard spoon? See you and your still-dirty blender in half an hour! A rubber spatula makes quick work of getting every last drop of the food product you worked so hard to create out of its vessel.
A silicon rubber spatula can hang out in a pot or pan for a bit without overheating, melting, or burning your hand! Is it best practice to leave your stirring implement unattended in your still-cooking food? No. But with my beloved rubber spatula, there’s room for a bit of error.
Finally, this may seem a little frivolous, but they come in so many colors, which is fun on its own, but I’ve also written about how, because of their hue variety, they make a great, unexpected and extremely useful housewarming gift or stocking stuffer!
And don’t think I’d leave you hanging without some ideas for what you can do with this very versatile kitchen tool!
Make a blender pasta sauce! Find the recipes for my blended feta pasta sauce and my vegan pumpkin sage sauce here. Scrape the heck out of that blender because you’ll want every last drop of these sauces, I promise.
We had breakfast for dinner this past Friday and I made the fluffiest chocolate chip pancakes using this recipe, which calls for folding in separated egg whites. It made all the difference and there’s undeniably no tool better for folding than a rubber spatch!
I use mine to make these perfect scrambled eggs all the time.
Make a smoothie, and don’t let any go to waste!
I make this vegan ranch dressing for clients all the time. You need a rubber spatula for pausing and scraping down the sides of your blender.
Okay, I’m curious, are you with me on this? Or do you have some other dessert island kitchen tool I should know about? You can respond directly to this email, leave a comment, or shoot me a note over on Instagram. I love to chat.
That’s it from me! Have a lovely, well-fed week ahead.
With love and a tip of my chef’s hat,
Erica
Want more? I’m so flattered! You can also follow me on Instagram, pop over to my YouTube channel, or check out my blog where you can find my tips-laden e-book collection.
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