Even if you have a full range of quality knives, a pair of kitchen shears can still prove to be incredibly effective and a valuable asset to your kitchen.
The benefits of a pair of kitchen scissors, such as the come-apart kitchen shears available on this site, can sometimes help make kitchen prep safer, neater and faster than by using conventional knives to perform these tasks. So what are kitchen shears used for?
The tasks that make kitchen shears such a valuable addition to your kitchen drawer include:
Cutting Herbs & Spices
The action of cutting modest herbs & spices often results in the collation of nicks and marks due to the close proximity of the fingers to the knife when performing this task. This risk is easily minimized when using a pair of kitchen shears. Not only does using scissors remove your fingers and hands from the danger zone but it also helps make less of a mess when the task is performed directly into the mixing bowl.
The most common herbs and spices that can be cut with kitchen shears instead of a knife include: basil, parsley, chives, garlic cloves and ginger - but the list goes on and on.
Cutting the ends of vegetables
Quick and effective, one of the most common kitchen shears uses is to snip the ends of vegetables such as chives, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower. Doing so, provides a much tidier cut and helps to keep your knife clean of the dirt that normally congregates in these areas, even if the vegetable has been hand-washed beforehand.
Precise Trimming to Bread, Pastries and Pasta
Sometimes it is necessary, or desirable, to cut your food items into specific shapes prior to proceeding with the cooking process. Kitchen Shears are a great implement in order to accomplish this. For example, were you to cut a pastry item into a triangle then a pair of shears will provide a much neater cut in this regard than a knife would be able to achieve.
Additionally, kitchen shears are a great tool for cutting between rows of ravioli, and other precision pasta tasks. They can also be used to shorten the length of other types of pasta in bulk, such as spaghetti.
Cutting Raw and Cooked Meat
Kitchen shears can spare the laborious task of cutting through meat, seafood and fish on a cutting board which can often leave a mess, a massive cleanup and eradicate the risk of bacteria growing. The most frequent uses for shears when it comes with meat tends to be removing the wing tips from poultry, as well as shaping them into easier to consume pieces. Additionally, cutting scales off fish, opening crab and trimming meat fat are common uses that kitchen shears can easily pull off.
Saving your hands from oil exposure
Some kitchen tasks can result in the build up of oils on your hands if using your favorite knife to perform the task at hand. One of the most common times this occurs is during the preparation of chilli peppers. By using kitchen shears instead of your knife you can avoid oil build-up and/or capsaicin burns.
The advantage of come-apart kitchen shears
The main advantage of come-apart kitchen shears is that capability to easily clean the item when required. This is particularly important when the shears have been used on meat items. It is tremendously important that all food particles are removed, especially from the pivot screw, and this is easily accomplished when the shears can come apart.
Additionally, sharpening of the shears is much more convenient when they can be separated and you can hold the shears in a manner where sharpening is much easier to perform with effectiveness.