My mom told me she felt a little called out by my last article (sorry mom). Shortly after, we got in a discussion about spatulas and I floundered in bewilderment that she didn’t own a single version of my go-to spatula. So for this article… I’m calling her out again. Love you mom!

Let’s talk about the three primary types of spatula and why they’re so great.

Wooden Spatula

This is my all-time favorite spatula, preferably a flat-headed one that can really scrape the bottom of your pan. What makes these spatulas so great is that they are highly abrasive, so they’re perfect for scraping away at the bottom of your pan and keeping foods from sticking (this is especially important when making reductions and cream-based sauces). Yet the wood itself is substantially softer than metals, so no matter how intensely you cook, you won’t scratch your expensive pans.

The wooden spatula is my go-to for all types of cooking, whether I’m stirring a stew or sauce with utter concentration or simply jostling food around a frying pan. Oh, what about flipping food with a wooden spatula, you ask? Well I usually just use my patented flipping technique to flip food (a little shove-shove-push-toss-pull in a hot pan. It’s hard to write down in text, so maybe I should just film it someday).

Metal Spatula

This is my go-to spatula when I’m cooking a big piece of meat, like steak, chicken breast or fish cutlets. You don’t always want to flip these cuts with my patented flipping technique due to all the oil in the pan, so you need a good spatula to carefully lift and flip.

This spatula also pulls double duty as “pressurizer.” When you first lay your protein in the pan, you can press your spatula firmly on top and move the protein around in the oil to ensure an even browning.

Of course, I often end up opting for tongs instead of the metal spatula, but for your proteins, they’re both appealing.

Rubber Spatula

This is the spatula you need when you want to make sure every last bit of your food makes it out of the pan. Thus, it’s the requisite spatula for scrambled eggs and every sauce ever.

But here’s the catch—rubber spatulas are not good for much else. They don’t make great stirrers because they don’t have any form of abrasion, and they clearly don’t make good flippers. If you just want something to jostle food around in your pan, you should opt for a wooden spatula with antimicrobial properties.

In any case, despite its limited uses, the rubber spatula proves its worth time and time again nearly every morning when I make breakfast for my family and also every time we make pastries and pies.

If you are a minimalist like me, these three spatulas will fit 99% of your cooking needs. You can happily go through life with literally just three spatulas. But with that being said, there is still a number of spatulas that can be nice to keep around “just in case.”

Bonus Spatulas

Fish Spatula (aka fishspat): This is simply a longer version of the classic metal spatula. What makes these nice is if you’re cooking a delicate cut of protein like fish, you can use this spatula to equally pressurize the entire fish and ensure an even sear. Otherwise you’re prone to have one fully burned end and one undercooked end. Another big bonus of the fishspat is they are great for making good, classic burgers. Throw your meat down, then press it flat with the spatula. To get extra leverage, use a glass to press down really hard on the meat to make it paper thin. Perfect burger!

Skimmer (aka spider or fry spatula): If a strainer and a spatula made a baby, it would be this. It’s a stick with a wire basket at the end of it. It’s perfect for removing small foods (e.g. fries, dumplings, doughnuts, fried chicken, etc) from cooking oil. I don’t make fried food often enough to warrant this purchase (so I just use tongs), but this summer when I get deep into perfecting the french fry, I’ll probably purchase one.

Tongs: While technically not a spatula, my tongs go in the same place as my spatulas, so it’s at least an adopted brother. Tongs are perfect for precisely handling food. They’re also an effective way to remove fried foods from oil (though they’re much slower than a skimmer if you have a lot of fried food to work with). Tongs are one of those kitchen essentials I assume you already have. Just remember they’re for much more than tossing a salad. In fact, maybe you should stop tossing your salad with tongs.

Whatever you need: I don’t know what you like to cook most, but chances are there’s plenty you could use that I haven’t thought of. If you make tons of pasta, consider making it in smaller batches and making good use of a slotted pasta spoon. That way you can save the pasta water to make incredible sauces. If you make tons of soup, you need a ladle. I obviously can’t bring up every possibility, just remember that often less is more, and it’s best to buy things that you certainly do use, not just grab everything that you “might one day need.” That’s how you end up with a crowded kitchen that isn’t fun to cook in.

Go forth and bang your pots with a wooden spatula!