What is Paring Knife Used For?

Though there are many other things that hold great importance in the kitchen. But in my opinion, the queen of the kitchen is a paring knife.

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A kitchen without smart, bold and sharp knives is no kitchen. There is a variety of knives in the kitchen. Each one holds an important position and none can be used as a replacement for each other.

However, there is indeed a little knife that can help you with a number of different tasks. And sometimes it can do the job that even a chef’s knife can’t do.

Do you want to know what you can do with it? But before going to its uses let’s recall its basic information.

What Really is a Paring Knife?

The paring knife is a small, short-bladed regular kitchen knife.

The size of its blade usually ranges from 2.5 inches to 4 inches. The handle is generally the same size as that of the blade but in some cases, it might be slightly longer.

Paring knives are mainly used for delicate purposes like peeling, dicing and cutting. However, there are many other smart uses of this little knife.

Uses of Paring Knife

A lot you can do when you have your paring knife in the hand. Let’s have a look at some of its amazing uses.

Peeling the Fruits and Vegetables

Let’s start with the general one. If you have just forgotten where you’ve put your professional peeler, don’t rush just grab your paring knife and start peeling off. You might find it a little difficult and time consuming on your first attempt.

But once your hand becomes used to it, peeling five to 6 fruits in five minutes will be just a child’s game for you.

To peel the skin of the fruit with a paring knife, first, make a small slit on the side, slide the knife between fruit meat and skin, the start peeling horizontally by rotating the fruit.

Loosening the Cake from Pan

Major problem most people face when baking cake at home is that it becomes de-shaped the moment, they put it out of the baking pan. The reason is they mostly use either the back of a spoon or a piece of cardboard.

As a result, the soft side of the cake starts to breaks and cakes appear ugly.

This is also the one thing you can use a paring knife for. Simply dip the paring knife in the butter or you can also go with oil. After that gently slide the paring knife on one side of the pan start running it around the edges. Now flip the cake on the board or a tray.

Deveining the Shrimp

Now, this is something no one would ever want to do with the help of hands. After all, who would ever like to put hands on poop? Though it’s not a poop directly. But being an intestine makes it poop indirectly.

Again, the paring knife is there for your help.

Run the paring knife all along the back of the shrimp such that a long cut appears. Now a dark-colored intestine will appear.

Slide the tip of the knife under the intestine and gently work it in an upward position. Once it has completely separated from the meat, remove it with the help of a knife.

Coring and Hulling Tomatoes and Other Fruits

Coring and hulling fruits with a paring knife just becomes easier. You can never perform this task with a long knife but you can check out a tomato knife if you want to.

To core a tomato, insert your paring knife almost I inch to the left of the core, now start rotating it all around the core, once it has separated, push it out with the help of the knife tip.

You can do the same step to hull the fruits like strawberries, but instead of digging the knife in 1 inch, insert it according to the size of the crown.

Decasing the Sausages

Usually, sausages come with a thin sheath surrounding it. The purpose of this casing is to put the ingredients packed. Though these casings are usually safe to eat. However, they might cause some problems when cooking in a specific way.

So, the paring knife will also help you in decasing the sausages.

To do this, draw a thin line all down the sausage, the cut shouldn’t be deep enough to slice the meat. Once the sheath is separated in half, remove it and dispose of it.

Deseeding the Fruits

Normally, people don’t like to consume fruits with seeds. It feels quite uncomfortable to chew, it has a bitter taste and also causes stomach pain sometimes.

You can’t deseed the fruits with your hands, it’s a bit messy and not practical. But you can easily do it with a paring knife.

Insert the tip of the knife under the seed and pop it out of the fruit. If the seeds are tightly embedded like those of guava, you can simply cut that area out with a knife.

Segmenting the Citrus Fruits

Usually, you don’t really have to segment the citrus fruit for eating. You can simply peel it off and eat it the way it is. But if you have to put it in the dishes, you do have to segment it.

To segment the citrus with a pairing knife, cut the skin along with the white membrane. Now slice each segment towards the core and try to slice it as close to the membrane as possible so lesser fruit is wasted.

Things You Shouldn’t Do with Paring Knife

A paring knife is a delicate utensil and is used for small purposes, so you can’t use it for the heavier tasks. It won’t survive it. just so you’d be warned let’s have a look at the things that you shouldn’t do with the paring knife.

Slicing the Meat

The muscles and tissues of meat are hard enough to be cut down with a paring knife.

Cutting the Bone

Now, this is something impossible. You won’t be able to it even if you tried so hard. The only thing you’ll get will be a broken paring knife. It’s better to use a boning knife for this purpose.

Cutting Harder Vegetables and Fruits

The fruits with hardcovers like those of pumpkins a watermelon can’t be cut with a pairing knife. It’s not that strong to bear that hard skin.

Thing you should keep in mind before cutting hard things is to always sharp any knife you are using with an electric sharpener. so the ingredient is cut with clean boundaries.

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Marry Nigah

Hi, I’m a clinical psychologist and inclined towards best buying practices for home and kitchen things. Critical towards choosing the best product and honest with my feedback. I’m a seasoned writer having more than 4 years of experience in multiple niches as well.

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