I haven’t posted any recipes lately. Not that I haven’t been cooking, just nothing new. So I thought I’d post something basic that not everyone might know: the hands-down best way to chop an onion.
First, chop both ends off. (The “poles.”)
Score three lines down the outsides, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep. Peel off the outer one or two layers of onion.
Cut onion in half, down the poles. Lay one half flat on chopping board. Slice down from pole to pole.
Now slice against your first cut, creating little blocks. You’re done! The little blocks will fall apart on their own, along their layers, when you cook them.
This method makes it really easy to pick up the entire half and move it to your prep bowl.
TIP FOR AVOIDING TEARS:
Place a small votive candle on the near end of your chopping block, so it’s underneath your eyes. Don’t burn your clothes. When the onion is cut, it releases sulfur-based compounds into the air. When those compounds land on your eyes, they create sulphuric acid, making you tear up temporarily. The open flame burns off some of those compounds before they hit your eyes, allowing you to chop longer.
[this is good] as we used to say on Vox.
The candle sounds like a good tip too. I usually peel my onion under cold water in the sink, so the fumes can’t reach me. But sometimes I’m in a hurry and will forget about the water, resulting in weepy eyes. It’s kind of funny, because the males in my family can’t handle the sight of a crying woman and will shout, “NOW why are you upset?”
I won’t even bother if it’s just one onion. But if I’m making French Onion Soup, or Onion Marmalade, and I have to chop half a dozen of them, it’s worth it.
Just yesterday, while I was chopping onions, in full tear-up mode, hubby called. Sniffling, I explained that I was just chopping onions… no worries!
The hot air ‘exhaust” of the candle makes a convection cell that creates a breeze from you to the candle and then an upward draft that blocks the spread of the onion-air to your eyes.
That’s probably as important as the amount that is burned – burnt sulfur compounds are pretty smell, for one thing.
Makes more sense… thanks for the physics clarification!