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Alton Brown knows his way around the kitchen. And while you may assume his kitchen is filled with expensive gadgets like state-of-the-art blenders and thermometers, the host of Food Network's Good Eats: The Return is a huge fan of the $5 bench scraper.

Brown talked with Men's Journal about his must-have kitchen gadgets and his love for the simple tool was clear: “I don’t understand how people can exist without a board scraper or a dough blade. I travel with one as well, because I spend a lot of time in AirBnBs and they never have one in the kitchen. I move things around with it. If you chop up a bunch of ingredients, how are you going to move them all around? I use it as an extension of my hand. I can use it to clean a counter quickly."

Having a hard time visualizing how you'd use a dough scrape to move food around? After you've chopped up a bunch of ingredients—say, carrots and celery for a salad—swipe your bench scraper across your cutting board with one hand as you guide the food into a bowl which you hold steady right beyond the counter with your other hand.

You can buy the AmazonBasics Multi-Purpose Stainless Steel Bench Scraper and Chopper on Amazon here for $5.90, or find one at virtually any kitchen supply store.

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Ready for more wisdom, good grub, and laughs from Alton Brown? Good Eats: The Return airs Sundays at 10/9c and 10:30/9:30c on Food Network.