What is a Belshaw gun primarily used for?

A Belshaw gun is primarily used for portioning pancake batter. This tool allows for consistent and accurate dispensing of the batter onto the cooking surface, ensuring that each pancake is evenly sized and cooked uniformly. By controlling the amount of batter dispensed, the Belshaw gun enhances kitchen efficiency, especially in busy food service environments like IHOP, where uniformity in portion size is essential for presentation and customer satisfaction.

The other options focus on different tasks in the kitchen: cooking eggs, flipping pancakes, and heating griddle surfaces, which are not the primary function of the Belshaw gun. Instead, this tool specifically streamlines the process of batter preparation, making it essential for producing pancakes quickly and consistently.