There are plenty of kitchen tools that earn their places in a gadget drawer, but is a meat tenderizer, aka a meat mallet, one of them? Well, it depends.

Pull out those pork chops, go fetch your meat mallet, and let's dive right in. Read more: The 13 Best Steaks For Grilling Meat mallets are an essential tool when it comes to tenderizing meat.

In the kitchen at the Portland-based Russian restaurant Kachka, the meat mallet is an indispensable piece of equipment. Chef and co-owner Bonnie Morales uses it to pound out cutlets for everything ...

But as I learned from Carla Lalli Music, who turned to a meat mallet to squash an army of just-fried plantains for her tostones in no time, the meat mallet is no one-trick pony. It’s multipurpose.