You Need This: Spoonula vs Spatula

Another Stovetop Best Friend

While I was rooting around in my canisters on the stove for the soufflé post, I realized how often I use a particular brand of scrapers and spatulas. I have purchased others in cute colors with wood or stainless steel handles, along with an older plastic version with a wood handle. Some blades were made from nylon, and some from silicone or rubber. But none of them passed the Goldilocks test like these commercial versions from Rubbermaid—which I later found out has its headquarters practically in my backyard in Winchester, Virginia. Both designs, the spoonula and the spatula, described below were “just right” and lasted much longer than their more chic counterparts. And when I watch episodes of Chef’s Table, I see them lurking in many of the kitchen shots.

They make a flat scraper and a “spoonula” style, each in 9.5-inch and 13-inch lengths, which work well in a home kitchen. I have each design in both sizes. These two models resist scratching cookware and defy melting up to 500°F or 260°C. They are dishwasher safe, and the handle stays pretty cool. That was the main issue with stainless steel handles on scrapers and spatulas. If they are near a heat source, such as a burner, the heat transfers pretty quickly to the stainless steel handle. Although Rubbermaid makes a group of silicone spatulas with cute color-coded handles (green for vegetables, red for meat, yellow for poultry) in two sizes as well, I still prefer the way the blade works on this model. And of course, they can go right into the dishwasher.

The Devil Is in the Details

The blade is notched so that when you are scraping a pan, it cleans the edge along with the side. The design includes a “Clean-Rest” feature (which is even trademarked by Rubbermaid) to keep the blade off countertops and reduce contamination risk. And of course it is NSF certified and adheres to the Prop 65 protocols for safe components in manufacturing. The final engineering detail that makes these two models so valuable is that the handle is sealed to the blade, so you get no bacteria buildup between the two. And the truly annoying separation of handle from blade never happens.

That said, in a spoonula vs. spatula tournament, I find that I use the spoon-shaped version more often than the classic flat spatula. It seems to work better in batters and ice cream preparations, especially if you need to do a quick taste test (which I know you would never do in a commercial kitchen!). But for folding egg whites, chocolate, or flour into batters, the older style is still my favorite.

And Don’t Forget This Little Gem

As a final scraper footnote, Rubbermaid makes a jar scraper that is better than any of the others I have tried. While it does have the same sealed blade and handle, Rubbermaid’s jar scraper lacks the other bells and whistles its siblings boast, but this little 9.5-inch model combines just the right amount of stiffness and flexibility to make it your best friend when salvaging the last smidgen of expensive mustard or mayonnaise.

These Rubbermaid treasures are not normally found in many kitchen shops, which I find incomprehensible, but check stores in your area. Or, if you have a restaurant supply store that sells to consumers, you might get lucky. Failling that, you can go directly to  Rubbermaid Commercial Products and the company’s website lists several online purchase points. Definitely get yourself at least two s poonulas.