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Slicing an Onion

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Hello, my name is Helen Rennie,

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I'm the founder of Helen's Kitchen cooking school,

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and today we're going to learn to slice an onion.

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If you're tearing up just by watching this video,

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let me assure you that there is a solution

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to this persistent problem.

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Goggles, contact lenses,

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anything that'll seal your eyes off.

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And so that you don't feel like a dork

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wearing goggles in your kitchen,

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I'm going to wear them with you.

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Cut the top and the root end of the onion off.

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Don't be afraid to cut a good bit of the root off,

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this will help the onion strips separate.

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Set the onion on one of the

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two flat surfaces you just created,

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and cut it in half.

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Peel the outer layers,

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starting with the first decent layer,

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because it often has dry spots.

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If the onion is large,

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you can nick the outer layer

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to make peeling easier.

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Clean off your board.

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Find the natural lines on the onion.

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You will be cutting parallel to these lines.

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This will give you even strips.

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If you cut perpendicular to the lines,

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you will end up with semicircles of various size.

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This might work nicely in a salad,

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if your slices are paper-thin.

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But for all the cooking applications,

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you want strips, not semicircles.

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Hold the onion with a claw grip,

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and place it towards the back of the knife.

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Start cutting at about a 30º angle to the board,

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and gradually straighten out your knife on each cut

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until it gets to 90º.

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Then join your claw grip to the knife blade,

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and continue slicing

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until the onion gets unstable,

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which is about now.

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Tilt the onion forward and finish slicing.

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Make a few batches of caramelised onions,

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and you'll get so fast,

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you will not need goggles any more.

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From Helen's Kitchen in Boston,

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happy cooking and baking to you.

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Produced by Helen Rennie. Music by Django Reinhardt.

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Copyright (c) 2011 by Helen Rennie. All Rights Reserved.

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More techniques at beyondsalmon.com