Today I was making marinara sauce and thought I would take some quick pictures of dicing an onion. I grew up not knowing the correct way and learned how sometime in my adulthood, I think in a cooking class I took in college. It is really not that hard. You DO need a sharp knife. I like to use a produce knife which is the kind with the little indents along both sides of the blade. Please do not let me catch you using some tiny little knife like a paring knife! You need a knife with a big thick blade that is NOT flimsy and easy to bend. If you don't have one, please go buy yourself one at a store like Marshall's or HomeGoods where you can get a decent knife at a reasonable price! It will make your life immeasurably better:)
1. Slice the non-root end off your onion and discard.
2. Set your onion on the flat side you just cut off and then cut it in half right through the root end
3. Pull the peel back off the onion so it is naked:)
4. Now, decide how big or small you want your dice and make horizontal cuts in your onion starting at the bottom. Just go back toward the root, stopping about 1/2 inch from the root. In this picture that is my second cut. Can you see there is another cut under that one?
5. Now, starting at the side furthest from you, stick the tip of the kinfe into the onion without cutting all the way through and make vertical cuts. The closer together they are the finer your dice will be. When you are making the cuts on the side your kinfe tip will be further away from the root because you don't want to cut the whole side off. When you are cutting in the middle of the onion you will be able to get closer to the root because the onion is fatter there? Get it?
6. Now, use your left hand (for a righty) to kind hold the onion together by squeezing gently on the sides while you slice of slices of your onion, creating the perfect dice! Do this until you have cut back to where you stopped your other cuts.
7. Now, repeat all the steps with the other half!
Let me know if this helps!
I laughed at the title- but I have been doing it all so wrong! Thank you, thank you!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I have been doing this SOOO wrong...thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteI used to cut an onion the same way. However, you can totally eliminate step 4. Mother Nature has already done that step for you. Try it, it works! :)
ReplyDeleteKelli
I almost agree Kelli. Step 4 is mostly for the sides of the onion or the parts where the curve is such that your vertical slices might not be in the exact right spot to get those parts into small pieces.
ReplyDeletethank you for this!!
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I've wondered how to cut an onion properly and easily but never took the time to do a search.
ReplyDelete