America’s Test Kitchen’s Bridget Lancaster walks you through some basic cooking techniques. Here, learn the proper way to chop an onion without tears!
We’re going to start off with a very basic—yet very important—lesson: how to chop an onion. It may seem like a simple task, but we find that many people don’t know where to start when handing the round, layered, unwieldy-on-a-cutting-board vegetable, and we don’t blame them. Do you cut it from pole to pole or around the center? How much of the ends should you chop off, and in what order should you slice the thing?
In the video below Bridget shows the most efficient and safest way to chop an onion. This aromatic vegetable adds lots of depth to many of our soups, stews, and roasts, and consistently-sized cuts are key.
HOMEWORK: Using a sharp knife, practice chopping an onion using our technique. Try cutting it in different sizes, like chopped coarse (1/2- to 3/4-inch pieces), chopped medium (1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces), chopped fine (1/8- to 1/4-inch pieces), and minced (1/8-inch pieces or smaller).
