How to Slice A Pear

Everybody loves a good fruit plate right?  Or at least a fruit plate with a bit of cheese, maybe a few nuts thrown in.  Well, for that fruit plate, you gotta cut the fruit, and you don't want to be slicing all day.  In this video, I how you a technique for quickly and consistently slicing a pear.  While the process is actually very simple I love to post videos and articles that show knife skill techniques because they are so important in the kitchen.  In addition be being safer when you have good knife skills, you can move more quickly, and spend less time prepping and cooking food and more time eating….and drinking.

How to Slice a Pear

• First decide the width of your desired slices.  For some applications, I like them razor thin, for others, up to ½ and inch wide.  That will determine the spacing for your cuts…but regardless of the size, the steps are still the same
• Place the pear on your cutting board fat side down, stem side up
• Slice off 1/3 of the pear, starting just to the side of the stem; you now have oval shaped piece with one flat side
• Place the flat side on your cutting board
• Using a “claw” grip make parallel cuts with your knife the long way down the pear
• Move each cut the distance of your desired thickness, until you’ve cut all they way across the pear
• Repeat with the other side of the pear; and then can you do the same to the two remaining smaller sides of the pear
• And you have your pear slices

• If you want to make a more decorative piece out of your pear, you can do so with almost the same process as above
• As opposed to having your slices cut all the way through the pear, leave about a quarter inch attached at the tip
• Once done, you can use a bit of pressure to slide the pieces apart, and create a fanned-out look
• After a few times, you’ll get good enough to do this without leaving the tip of the pear intact
• And this technique will work with all kinds of fruit and vegetables cut in the same way