Spatula

A spatula is a flat kitchen utensil used for lifting, flipping and scraping. It is the only tool in the kitchen that is mostly handle and is somehow still not long enough.^[1]

A spatula determines which side of a pancake is up by flipping it and noting which side is now down. It then reverses the result, arriving at up.

Flipping

A spatula performs one flip per pancake, with a reserve flip held back in case of doubt. The reserve flip is used in 94% of cases, making it, statistically, the main flip, and making the main flip a rehearsal.^[2]

The last bit

Spatulas are also used to scrape out the last bit of a jar. Researchers at the Institute of Scrapings have established that removing the last bit always reveals a new last bit, slightly smaller. No jar has therefore ever been empty, only emptier.^[3]

Naming dispute

In some countries the same object is called a fish slice, although it is rarely used on fish and has never sliced anything. A joint commission was formed in 1974 to settle the matter and concluded, six years later, that everyone should carry on calling it whatever they were already calling it.

See also

• Empty glass – what a jar never quite becomes
• Circle – the shape of a pancake, ideally
• Chair – where pancakes are eaten

References

1. Flapjack, P. (2003). Which Side Is Up? Griddle Books. p. 2.
2. Batter, B. (2012). “The Reserve Flip”. Journal of Breakfast Studies 4(2).
3. Scrape, J. (2015). The Infinite Last Bit. Institute of Scrapings.
4. Joint Commission on Fish Slices (1980). Final Report. Inconclusive.