Kitchen scissors are the understated MVPs of your utensils drawer, making everything from opening packets to slicing pizzas considerably easier.
Unless you’ve never been trusted with sharp implements, chances are you’re well aware of how to use a pair of scissors.
But on the larger, kitchen-focused ones, there’s a feature that often goes unused.
The reason for that is simple: not many of us know about it, even if we’ve seen the part of the scissors in question,
It’s those jagged metal teeth on the inside of each arm, closing together as a menacing reminder to your fingers that, at the end of the day, the scissors are in charge.
So, what are those teeth for?
They appear on a specific kind of kitchen scissors known as ‘kitchen shears’, and those teeth have more uses than you might imagine.
The major one is for cracking things, much like a nutcracker. They effectively function as a pair of culinary pliers, in this case.
They can also be used to break bones if you’re making a stock, and they’re great for opening jars, too.
Simply stick the teeth on either side of the lid, give the scissors a squeeze and twist them anti-clockwise to get that stubborn top off.
Some helpful people online have shared other uses, too
You can “run a bone through [the teeth] to strip meat off”, and they are also “great for cracking lobster claws”.
Another suggested using them to take the head off a boiled egg, prompting the response: "What the f**k!?!? You have changed my life!!"
It’s a great bit of wisdom to have under your belt, that’s for sure.
Now it’s time to ponder other great kitchen questions, including but not limited to:
What are all those round food processor attachments for? How do you even use them?
How do you reset the clock on your oven?
Why do we have three jars of garam masala in this cupboard? None of them are even open!
As far as garam masala is concerned, experiment with it in any Indian, Pakistani, Nepalese or Caribbean dishes in your repertoire – there are some delicious results waiting to be discovered.
And if you can’t open the jar, well, you’d best reach for those trusty kitchen shears.
Featured Image Credit: AngelPietro via Getty ImagesTopics: Cooking
Rachael Davis