What is a Spatula?
A spatula is one of the most common cooking tools. It’s a simple tool that is basically a flat, usually squarish piece of plastic or metal, on the end of a straight handle. It also goes by the names of tosser, turner and flipper and even fish slice. As these names suggest, the tool is basically used for flipping food, usually in a frying pan. For example, you might use a spatula to flip a burger patty. Some blades have slots or holes in them to facilitate draining food, and others are solid. Another variation of spatulas do not have such pronounced ends, and are made of a more pliable material, useful for mixing and scraping bowls of cake batter.
For safety reasons, kitchen spatulas normally have a handle with a length adequate to keep the cook’s hands our of harm’s way. The handle should be rigid enough to be able to control the food being handled. Conversely, the spatula blade needs to be flexible and thin enough to safely and effectively get under and turn food items. A considerable amount of spatula styles have blades that are longer on one side to aid in maneuvering food.
Materials used to make spatulas vary greatly. They come in metal, plastic or wood. More recently, heat-resistant silicone has become a popular material as well.
A spatula is a common cooking tool that comes in a variety of sizes and has several uses.Spatula blades and handles come in different sizes. Those with shorter blades are normally used when cooking or turning small items like cookies, meat patties, pancakes or eggs. Medium size blades are often used when cooking vegetables on the stove top. If large pieces of meat or fish are being prepared, larger blades with long handles are usually more useful.
What is the difference between a Turner and a spatula?
A turner is a type of spatula designed for one purpose—to turn food over—while the word spatula can refer to kitchen tools that chefs and home cooks use for other purposes as well. “Spatula” and “turner” are interchangeable nouns for many people, but there are a decent number of technical differences between the two.
Which type of spatula is right for You?
Determining which type of spatula is right for you comes down to what kind of cooking you do regularly at home. Silicone spatulas, for instance, are ideal for nonstick cookware, whereas metal spatulas are best for grilling, so we set our to find the best ones for mixing batter, turning fish, flipping burgers, and more