Tools: Poultry Shears

You know I am kind of crazy about tools. Especially when they make my life easier.

Two years ago when I made this video for homemade chicken broth did I ever struggle with cutting up a chicken! My mom recommended I get poultry shears. She used to use them for cutting up chickens all the time when we were growing up.

The Problem?

Last year after my mom passed away, I brought her old poultry shears home with me. They were a rusty mess but I was determined to bring them back to life.

This was the best I could do and knew I needed some help. I contacted my knife sharpening guru Peter Nowlan from New Edge Sharpening to see if he could help.

The Solution!

Dang! Did Peter ever come through for me! My mom’s poultry shears looked almost knew and he sharpened the blades for me too. Peter is a genius.

So I got all dressed up in my foodie jacket, got out the video camera and wanted to demo me using my mom’s poultry shears in my own kitchen.

Turns out there was one ingredient I did not know about when using poultry shears: STRENGTH!

I tried and tried but could not successfully cut through the chicken without causing injury to my hands. The video ended up being a bloody mess!

Foodie Conclusion

I had forgotten how physically strong my mom was and how she made cutting up a chicken with these shears look so easy. I remember her just cutting through wings and drumsticks with ease. I thought I could do it to.

No chance in hell.

Thanks to my fibromyalgia and chronic hand pain, this is a tool that I will keep for sentimental reasons only. Which of course makes me sad but I am glad it reminded me how tough and strong my mom was. I wish I could be more like her but in this case, that is never going to happen.

What shall I do instead? Find the biggest, heaviest butcher’s knife there is and let it do all the bone-biting work!

One day…