Chris Cooks: A Lesson in Chopping Onions
Watch this video and learn to stymie the sting of the irascible veggie.
Posted by: Christopher Werner on Aug 24, 2010 at 09:43AM
1 Comments
In this city, knowing your food is akin to knowing your ABCs. That said, consider me—a hapless gastro-wannabe with zero culinary finesse—illiterate. For this series, I’m setting out to change that. I’ll cook my way through the kitchen, document the successes and failures, and consult a local food figure to get their insight and tips.
This week’s guru: Kathleen Flinn, author of The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry and creator of nonprofit cooking school Changing Courses.
Let me get a show of hands of those who can’t cut an onion without welling up like time’s up for Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias? Ditto. For some years now I have accepted my delicate ducts, knowing full well I would forever fear those tear-turning orbs. But recently I bopped into the kitchen of knife pro Flinn. There I learned it was the way I chopped that had me crying with each cut of the onion.
To learn Flinn’s tear-free chopping techniques, watch the video below (fast forward to about two minutes in.)
If all else fails, stick your head in the freezer or open a window to let air in; the reaction stymies the sting, Flinn says.
Tags: DIY cooking, Cooking, Cookware, Chris Cooks
I never have problem cutting onions once I figured out to 1) turn the uncut half exposed face down while I cut the other half, and 2) make five slits vertical, two horizontal, without cutting all the way through the end, then chop chop chop. And quickly remove the diced ones from the vicinity then tackle the face-down other half.