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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
