Saw a chef in Portland using a garden trowel as a spatula. It actually worked.

I was in Portland last weekend visiting my cousin and we stopped at this tiny breakfast spot. I watched the cook flip eggs with a garden trowel. Not a kitchen spatula, an actual metal garden trowel with a wooden handle. He said he lost his good spatula 3 months ago and just grabbed what was handy from the shed out back. The thing had those measurement marks on it like a ruler. He used it for everything, flipping pancakes, scraping the flat top, even plating hash browns. I asked if it scratched his cook surface and he just shrugged. Has anyone else seen pro cooks using totally wrong tools just because they're there?

2 comments

2 Comments

simon_chen27d ago

Actually that garden trowel probably cleans easier than a regular spatula since the holes don't let stuff stick as much. I'd argue using what you have is smarter than driving to a store every time you lose a tool. A good cook can flip an egg with a credit card if they have to, so the tool matters way less than the person holding it.

noah_black27d ago

Simon must be the kind of guy who'd defend a butter knife as a screwdriver if it got the job done. Did any of the customers mention it to him or were they too impressed with the food to care about the weird tool?