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.