Ch197, Interesting cooking spatula/scraping paddle
I was wondering if this was just a single slot spatula (not common these days) or something slightly anachronistic... like a candy thermometer (with the glass tube in the slot).
But it's just the former. Here're a couple examples of vintage designs by Avon and Foley. Other brands made them, too, like Tupperware, but most are short, wide, and bent.
What Oliver uses is even older, of course, since nylon wasn't around quite yet. Also, his is flat, probably wooden, and has a metal or possibly leather loop going through the handle for hanging.
Some brands make something similar now, for stirring and scraping. This silicone/nylon Betty Crocker one even has a flat design.
It's still just too short, too wide, and not made of materials available back then. I know the series has a bunch of anachronistic things, but a spatula at the orphanage shouldn't be one of them. 😆
It might actually be a Japanese (or at least Asian) style that's probably been in use for a very long time without much change over the past hundred years or longer. So, it would be immediately recognizable to local readers.
I did finally see these Japanese spatulas with the right shape, but the single slotted ones are apparently not too common. I have not found one just like it quite yet, but I'll keep looking.
