A cutlet bat is the heavy kitchen tool used for flattening cutlets, escalopes, and other thin pieces of meat or poultry to an even thickness. It has a broad, flat face — sometimes smooth, sometimes lightly textured — mounted on a sturdy handle, and it works by firm, even pounding that breaks down tough fibres and spreads the meat uniformly. Even thickness matters: a flattened escalope cooks through in the same time across its whole surface, browns evenly, and stays tender instead of drying at the thin spots while the thick spots stay raw. The tool also tenderises mechanically, which is why it is standard for schnitzel, paillards, and saltimbocca. In a professional kitchen the cutlet bat is one of the basic butchery hand tools, used with a board and usually with the meat protected between sheets of film.