Are You Tearing Parchment Paper Wrong?

Parchment paper is a very important paper. Some people might even call it exciting. It keeps brownies, cookies, and cakes from sticking to pans, yes, but you can also use it to make tasty meals en papillote. You can fashion it into a muffin tin liner, or use it to keep burger patties from sticking together in the freezer. It is inarguably useful — but sometimes, it can be a little hard to tear.

Yes, I know you could just buy the pre-torn sheets. I love the pre-torn sheets, though their pre-determined size does limit the parchment’s versatility. But if you prefer the roll (or already have a roll in your cabinet) you could listen to the TikTok person (Sofia Shanahan/@unsofisticated) in the clip here.

In the video, rather than leave it flapping, Sofia tucks the lip of the parchment box’s lid between the roll and the inner side of the box. This leave her with a clear edge upon which to pull the paper taut and make a precise tear. Sofia does a side-by-side comparison of a sheet torn with the box tuck and sheet torn without, and the evidence is damning (if you were rooting against the box tuck, that is).

I tried this little trick with parchment paper and wax paper, and while the wax paper tore the same either way, my parchment sheets really were neater. Even better, folding the lip inside the box keeps the end of the roll from retreating into the depths of the box, so you don’t have fish it out each time you need some more parchment.

This little move may not be particularly life-changing, but that’s ok. It makes parchment easier to tear and, if you tear a fair amount of parchment, it will make your life a tiny bit easier. And you deserve a life of ease, even if it is gained in tiny increments.