How to Cut an Onion
First, the WRONG Way to Chop an Onion
By Danilo Alfaro, About.com Guide
Trim the Ends Off the Onion
Photo © Danilo Alfaro
Before you begin, make sure you have a cutting board and a sharp knife. Place
the onion on its side on the cutting board in front of you and slice off the top and
bottom ends.
Cut the Onion in Half Lengthwise
Your onion now has two flat ends. That's good, because you can turn it so that
it's resting on one of the flat ends and it won't roll around. You should have the
other flat end facing up toward you.
Now place the blade of your knife across the center of the upward-facing flat
end. The edge of the blade should intersect with the little bulls-eye in the center
of the onion. Carefully cut the onion in half by slicing straight down through the
center.
Note the way my thumb and forefinger form a sort of arch over the top of the
knife. That lets me keep the onion nice and steady without getting my fingers in
the way of the blade.
Position Your Onion
We're going to work with one half of the onion at a time. Peel the skin off of one
of the halves and position it so that it's resting flat on the board in front of you
with the curved part facing up. The two flat ends should be pointing left and
right.
You're going to make your first cut parallel to one of those flat ends. If you're
right-handed, you'll begin on the right-hand end of the onion, and lefties will
start on the left.
Slice Crosswise Through the Onion
You're going to cut crosswise through the onion, slicing off little semi-circular
sections as you work your way from right to left (or left to right for you lefties).
Watch your fingers!
The half onion is still positioned in front of you as before, round part facing
upward, with the only difference being that it's been sliced into sections
Flip the Sections Sideways
Now you're going to flip a few of those sections sideways, so that you end up
with a little stack in front of you with the rounded part pointing toward your
non-knife hand and their flat centers lined up and facing your knife-hand side.
If this is all new to you, don't worry about stacking them. While you're getting
the hang of it, just do a single section at a time. The stacks can be tricky
because they can slide around a little bit
Cut Downward Along the Straight Edge
Unlike most three-dimensional foods, onions come with natural perforations in
the form of those bulls-eye circles that radiate out from the center. This
technique uses the onion's natural structure to our advantage. If this were a
corporation, we'd say we were "leveraging the onion's core competencies," but
the truth is, we're just being smart.
All we have to do is slice across the flat inside edge of the onion, as if we were
trimming little matchstick-shaped pieces. But because of the onion's natural
perforations, those matchsticks will end up separating out into little cubes.
Slice Your Way Outward
Keep trimming away toward the outer rings of the onion, letting those natural
cubes fall onto the cutting board. And be careful when you get to the end,
because there's not much room for your
fingers.
Finish with a Quick Chop
You'll see that those outer sections aren't
going to form cubes all by themselves, so
you'll have to help them along. Just give them
a quick chop crossways to finish the job.