Do you use a paddle scraper?
If not, it’s time to buy the one that serves your daily culinary preparations. When you search for essential kitchenware items online, it is one of the suggested products on the store gallery.
But, what is a paddle scraper? If you are looking to know more about this kitchen tool, your search ends here.
I still remember the first instance of buying a paddle scraper for regular cooking and scraping bowls before cleaning, etc. Baffled by the different kinds of items in the product gallery, I had to do a lot of research to find out what each of them could do.
No need to drain out anymore. I have herein provided a brief overview of what each of them is meant for and their uses in your kitchen.
What is a Paddle Scraper?
Paddle scraper is a multipurpose kitchen tool that you can use as a spatula, mix food, scrape dough or mixes from the edges of the bowl, etc. They are made of HACCP and FDA compliant food-grade plastic, wood, polypropylene, silicone, or stainless steel. These are heat-resistant materials so completely safe for prepping food at high temperatures.
An eminent baking pastry tool for the pantry, it is available in assorted shapes and colors to match your cooking needs. They are sold with or without a handle. The spatula-styled paddle scrapers have a Euro-thread connection where you can thread a standard size handle (often sold separately).
They are sturdy and durable enough for scouring out stubborn deposits. Most of them have at least one curved edge to scrape out food residues from all corners of your bowl. The silicone dough scraper with semi-sharp edges help you to remove the remaining mixes from the utensil surfaces and benches with ease.
Carlisle Paddle Scraper
Paddle Scraper Usage
By now you know that paddle scrapers are multipurpose tools. Let’s dive in to find the various ways you can use them to ease your everyday cooking and cleaning jobs.
1. Prepare Mixes and Seasonings
With or without handles, these food-grade scrapers are good for preparing mixes for a smooth batter, salad seasonings, etc. Choose silicone or wood paddle scrapers for this job to avoid scratching the pot surfaces.
2. Stir and Cook
The paddle scrapers with long handles perform the same job as your spatula. You can use them at medium flame cooking temperatures. The curved end will help you scrape the gravy on the sides of the pan when you stir food.
3. Clean Your Pots, Pans, and Bench top
The most important job of a paddle scraper is to keep your kitchen clean of food remains. You will find both curved and flat surfaces on the paddle scraper. For instance, the silicone bowl scraper has rounded edges on one side that will help you to remove dough and mixes from the curved surfaces. The sharp flat edges on the other side will help you to remove food spills and deposits from the bench top.
4. Color-Coded Paddle Scrapers to Match Cleaning Standards
When it comes to buying paddle scrapers, it is important to choose color-coded models. Color-coding is now mandatory to follow in every food processing plant. A set of cleaning tools with a particular tint addresses a specific cleaning function. That’s what they are meant for. You can choose your cooking and cleaning tool from the available colors- red, blue, green, or white depending on your needs.
Different Types of Paddle Scrapers
Paddle scrapers are available in different shapes, sizes, hues, and designs. All of them are designed to serve specific food processing needs.
1. Paddle Scrapers without Holes
With handles, these paddle scrapers resemble the silicone scraper spatula.
They perform multiple tasks- mixing food, cooking, scraping crockery before cleaning, and so on. They have small to medium curvature on one side allowing you to remove even the minute particles from different parts of your mixing bowl.
2. Mixing Paddle Scraper with Holes
When you are making a smooth batter, a paddle scraper with holes allows the ingredients to pass through and mix well with the liquid. The ingredients pass through the holes and you can wipe off the edges with a curved side. This ensures there are no lumps in the batter.
3. Flexible Scraper
The flexible scrapers are mainly made of plastic or silicon. They are the star performers in cleaning your pans after cooking to clean off the food rests without damaging the non-stick coating. Go for a flexible silicone bowl scraper since the material does not produce any scratches on your expensive crockery or cookware.
KitchenAid Gourmet Bowl Scraper
4. Hand Scraper
Hand scrapers are mostly made of strong plastic, polypropylene resin, or stainless steel to deal with tough stubborn deposits. They have a small handle so that you can hold the tool properly while removing stuff from the bench top. With a flat edge, they are only suitable for cleaning purposes and not one for the cooking job.
5. Metal Detectable Scraper
All the same in design as the hand scraper, there is a semi-ferrous layer inside these tools to work with any standard metal detecting system. They are much affordable compared to their stainless steel cousins.
6. Hi-Temp Scraper
Much similar to the hand scrapers in design, these scrapers are made of nylon or glass fiber. The compact surfaces are designed to ensure there are no cracks to prevent microbial growth. They are good for dealing with extremely hot temperatures up to 410℉.
7. Bench Scraper
This might sound out of context. But it isn’t. It is also used for gastronomic purposes. When you are prepping something on a flat surface such as a countertop, the thick deposits can be hard to deal with. Unlike others, the bench scraper has a medium sharp flat edge and can be used from one side only. Large bench scrapers have an ergonomic design for a firm grip.
FAQs
How to Use a Dough Scraper
The dough scraper may look like a small handheld item but, it is a useful baking pastry tool in the kitchen. Take flour in a bowl and pour water gradually while stirring with the silicone dough scraper. Once done with the dough prep task, you can remove and clean the bowl with the scraper. The following video gives a quick demonstration of how this works:
Why are Color-Coded Paddle Scrapers Used?
Color-coding is an eminent working system for food safety programs to prevent cross-contamination from allergens, pathogens, and foreign adulterates. The system is largely followed by the food processing industries including meat/poultry, seafood, dairy, bakery, winery, confectioneries, beverages, etc.
Some commonly used colored tools based on food items include:
- Red- Raw Meat
- Green- Cooked/Processed Meat
- Blue- Seafood
- White- Dairy products
- Yellow- Chicken
- Soy Yellow- Wheat
Following the color-code system, the kitchen cleaning tools and equipment are divided into various working zones. Abiding by the color-coding best practices you can purchase a set of paddle scrapers in different tints to ensure you have the right kitchen tool handy for each individual job.