Snip Through Shells with Seafood Scissors

Cutting open thick, hard seafood shells can be challenging and awkward, especially if you try to complete the task using standard kitchen shears. They may be perfect for butterflying chicken and snipping herbs, but their thick, straight blades just can’t fit into narrow claws and legs, so they end up hacking delicate shellfish meat in the process. Could a few simple modifications to traditional scissors make the job easier?

Gadget name: Progressive International Seafood Scissors

Price: $9.95

It looks like: If Salvador Dali designed a pair of scissors, with a curved blade and a bright red handle.

How it’s supposed to work: Like a regular pair of scissors on steroids. It should
easily snip through shellfish without ripping through the meat.

How we tested it: We went and bought lobster, king crab, and shrimp from our local supermarket and snipped through their shells, then evaluated the scissors’ efficiency, ability, and amount of lost meat.

How it actually works: These slender seafood scissors were strong enough to slice through knobby king crab legs and hard lobster claws. The curved blades fit perfectly along the arch of a shrimp shell, removing it in three efficient snips.

My favorite part: They were the only pair that we tested that were dexterous
enough to extract meat from long, skinny lobster legs.

Overall: These shears save time—and don’t waste one morsel of precious meat.