The Basic Kitchen Tool Michael Symon Calls The 'Greatest'
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Our hands are immensely useful tools, and in the kitchen for everything from kneading bread to shaping cookie dough to shredding meat, sometimes one left and one right hand are all you need to get the job done. Chef Daniel Patterson even wrote an ode to the power of touch for Food & Wine, stating that "nothing can replace human hands."
And yet, sometimes a good kitchen tool can be a serious game changer — from as simple a task as spreading cold butter to quickly breaking up ground meat. For celebrity chef Michael Symon, there is one overlooked kitchen tool that he finds essential. Sharp-eyed fans of the chef's television program "Symon's Dinners Cooking Out" may have noticed this small, versatile tool on his cutting board (as it can be seen in this Food Network clip shared on YouTube), but it's also something that can be easily stored in one's back pocket, ready to whip out at any moment for a multitude of tasks: the bench scraper.
Behold the versatility of the bench scraper
For the uninitiated, Chatelaine explains a bench scraper is traditionally a thin piece of metal used by bakers to manipulate dough. Since dough won't easily stick to the simple kitchen tool, bench scrapers help keep hands and your work surface clean in addition to preventing any unwanted body heat from softening butter. Other practical uses for a bench scraper include uniformly cutting up baked treats still in the pan and chopping vegetables.
Michael Symon declared his preferred bench scraper brand to the world on Twitter, describing it as "the greatest and cheapest kitchen tool." Symon explains he buys them by "the dozen" to give out to friends and family and convert them into bench scraper devotees as well.
If you're looking to purchase a bench scraper of your very own and see what all the hubbub is about, the version Symon recommends is readily available on Amazon for under $5. Instead of stainless steel, this bench scraper is made out of polypropylene, which makes it both durable and flexible.