Pastry blender

With a pastry blender you can quickly make a crumbly mass from flour and pieces of butter, without this mixture getting hot, for eg crust or shortcrust pastry. It consists of six relatively flexible steel wires that are bent in a U-shape; between the ends there is a wooden or plastic handle, which is sometimes provided with a thumb rest. By moving the pastry blender up and down in the mass, the ingredients are mixed and the pieces of butter or fat finely divided.

Instead of the wires, there can also be various steel blades with a curved cut. These are rigid and therefore better suited for cutting hard chunks of fat.

See also the dough grater. [MOT]