flinn@seismo.UUCP (E. A. Flinn) (04/01/84)
--- I've already gotten a surprising number of requests for the easy way to dice onions, so I guess it's both of interest and not so well known. The onion has a root end and a tip end; the first step is to slice it in half from root to tip. Now you have two hemispheres, each of which is treated as follows. 1. Put the flat side down on the cutting surface with the root end at the left (if you're right-handed). Make cuts parallel to the table, 1/8" apart (or however big you want the pieces), beginning from the tip end and going to within 1/2" or so of the root end. This is the only tricky part - you have to avoid the possibility of the knife slipping and cutting your left hand. Now you have planes sticking out of the root end. 2. Now make vertical cuts 1/8" or so apart, parallel to the root-tip axis (i.e., left-right), from the tip end to within 1/2" or so of the root end. Now you have little fingers sticking out of the root end. 3. Now make vertical cuts 1/8" or so apart, perpendicular to the root-tip axis (i.e., toward and away from you). The little fingers fall apart into 1/8" cubes. Throw away the hunk of root end. It's a lot more complicated to describe than to do. -- Ted Flinn (my certificat from Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine et de Patisserie says "Mme Flinn")
berry@zinfandel.UUCP (04/05/84)
#R:seismo:-77200:zinfandel:4300055:000:247 zinfandel!berry Apr 3 17:35:00 1984 Bravo, 'Mrs' Flinn :-) you have amply described the best way to dice an onion. However, DON'T throw away the root end -- save it and the onion skin to make brown stock. Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900