How A Reduction Spatula Can Step Up Your Homemade Pie Game

For the love of cooking and especially baking, we can pretty much trust anything that comes from Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of "The Cake Bible." Her time-tested techniques have inspired bakers since 1988, so it's no surprise that Rose's reduction spatula is a thing. Its unique selling point is that it's an elongated heatproof spatula with notches that measure the amount of liquid reduced from a sauce when held upright in a pan. It's a must-have for getting that perfect, syrupy consistency every time.

If you're not precise when heating and reducing fruity pie fillings, things can get tricky quickly. If your fruit filling is too loose, the extra fruit juice will mean a sloppy pie; it could make the bottom of the pie soggy or spill over and underneath the pie, creating a cooked-on fruit glue that cements your pie crust to its vessel. But it's not going to come to any of that because the reduction spatula will let you know when to stop reducing. 

Berries, apples, peaches, and even tomatoes often need to be cooked down to remove moisture and maximize flavor, and this spatula lets you know how much moisture has gone. Its long handle and straight edges also work well for scraping down every last inch of whatever you're reducing. This shape keeps things moving evenly, too. It's perfect for when you're stirring brown butter, helping to prevent sticking and burning. But it's especially good when making this from-scratch blueberry pie filling. Here's how it works.

Even outside of our beloved world of pie, we know that reduction is key to effortlessly elevated wine sauces, too. So if any recipe requires you to reduce a liquid, hold the spatula upright in the pan with the simmering liquid. The raised markings on the spatula will show where the liquid level is, up to six cups. As the liquid reduces, it will mark a lower notch on the spatula. Recipes for fruit fillings vary, but you can count on the best ones to reduce the fruit juice to intensify flavor and lessen the liquid before adding a thickener like cornstarch. 

Having the notches and numbers on a long, slim spatula eliminates guesswork, making it much easier to adjust recipes. The idea behind a marked spatula is not a new one, and you can find others that apply a similar principle but use a different shape, like this silicone cooking spoon with measurement marks that indicate tablespoons and teaspoons, so you don't have to use extra measuring utensils. While it's efficient, the beauty behind the reduction spatula is that you can leave it in the pot as the liquid reduces. That way you can catch the mark in real time.