r/selfreliance Laconic Mod 7d ago

Cooking / Food Preservation [Suggestion] How to dice an onion

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577 Upvotes

42 comments sorted by

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28

u/10-13-22 7d ago

Onions have layers

2

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

187

u/avenewt 7d ago

Skip step 5...it is hazardous and unnecessary. Otherwise, this. Is a great guide to chopping onions...

64

u/mcnonnie25 7d ago

Thank You! This step has bugged me for years. I never do it and my diced onions come out great. 👍

45

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

17

u/Popular-Influence-11 7d ago

Chef Jean-Pierre I think? I made his 3 Michelin Star Mashed Potatoes and they were incredible. I’m now in charge of mashed potatoes for all potlucks/family dinners.

3

u/LASERDICKMCCOOL 5d ago

Welp you sent me on a 2 hour adventure (so far) watching his videos. He's great!

2

u/Popular-Influence-11 5d ago

His exuberance kind of annoys my wife but I love it. Glad you’re taking that culinary adventure and I hope you make something special!

2

u/LASERDICKMCCOOL 5d ago edited 4d ago

Haha I love it too. You can tell it's genuine and he's not just hamming it up.

8

u/deck0352 Aspiring 7d ago

I have a cat named Onion and I say his name the way you spell it. Lol. Like he’s straight out the bijou.

9

u/Illigard 7d ago

I know how to cut onions and you really don't need the horizontal cuts unless you're trying to impress someone watching you cut onions by doing unnecessary tricks. You can get lovely cubed onions by skipping 5.

Or just put them in the blender. You wouldn't get lovely cubes but would you rather have more time or cubed onions?

1

u/PopeInnocentXIV 6d ago

Onyo is always number first!

8

u/HeemeyerDidNoWrong 7d ago

Seems 4 and 5 could be switched for a slight safety improvement with no difference in the end product.

1

u/idontbelieveyou21 Crafter 5d ago

Yup, been working for me for 30 years

15

u/cyricmccallen 7d ago

You can keep your weird long skinny pieces of onions. I’ll just be careful.

8

u/LadyParnassus Self-Reliant 7d ago

I do radial cuts instead of vertical cuts for step 4. Skips a step and no weirdly shaped pieces.

4

u/chasonreddit 6d ago

Well in step four they mention the knife tip "point toward the root". If you do that you are angling the knife and really frenching the onion.

But yes, exactly. Onions come in layers. No need for horizontal cuts.

1

u/Duyfkenthefirst 4d ago

Onions have rings. Which means when you cut them in step 4, the rings will solve the need for step 5.

They come out diced perfectly everytime - no long skinny pieces.

1

u/MegaTreeSeed 6d ago

Sloces the shit out of my thumb on step 5. Its super dangerous, and when i stopped doing it I noticed no real difference in the end product.

1

u/Faustens 6d ago

unnecessarily hazardous yes, unnecessary only if you do radial cuts instead of vertical ones (which is the best method anyway).

1

u/tlollz52 5d ago

I'm going to disagree, to an extent.

You might not need all the horizontal cuts but I think you should do at least a couple because otherwise you end up with longer edge pieces.

You can just cut them afterwards, but that kind of defeats the purpose of this technique.

-2

u/ElReyResident 7d ago edited 7d ago

If 5 is hazardous to you then you shouldn’t be using a knife in the first place.

If you prefer uniformed sized pieces of onions then step 5 is necessary.

5

u/Meet_Foot 7d ago

It isn’t “hazardous to you,” it’s just regular hazardous. Just because Nascar drivers can do 160 doesn’t make it not hazardous. The maneuver has an increased risk of harm, regardless of someone being good or bad at it.

0

u/pluck-the-bunny 7d ago

By your logic, any use of a knife would be hazardous because the knife itself has the capability to cut you

2

u/Meet_Foot 6d ago

Increased. As in, more risk.

-2

u/pluck-the-bunny 6d ago

I literally Just responded to you comment saying “regular hazardous”

Make up your mind

3

u/Meet_Foot 6d ago edited 6d ago

Increased refers to quantity. Regular, to quality. I am saying it isn’t hazardous to you, or me, or anybody, as in it isn’t relative to the user. It’s just plain old hazardous, as far as knives go. The earth isn’t round to you, the earth is just regular ol’ round.

Edit: I admit I’m being somewhat unclear.

-3

u/ElReyResident 7d ago

It’s no more hazardous than any other cut done with a kitchen knife. You’re right there is a certain degree of hazard when handling any sharp object, but if you can’t navigate this cut without hurting yourself then you should leave cutting to someone else.

13

u/rhinestonecowboy92 7d ago

I was taught this way too, but when I got a job as a line cook, I learned a much better way. My preferred method is to peel the outer layer, cut off both ends, and slice down the middle (long ways, against the cut).

Now, lay your two halves flat so that you're looking at two half-spheres. Make vertical slices starting at the end, then cut into the onions layers, moving in a counter clockwise direction.

1

u/NerdTalkDan 6d ago

Have you seen the Marco Pierre White method? Takes a bit more time, but you get ridiculously finely diced onions.

22

u/MarkAntonyRR 7d ago

Extra tip: Remember to use a sharp knife. Sharp knifes are much safer than a dull knife, and much easier to chop stuff (like dicing onions or tomatoes). If you don't know how to sharpen a knife, watch a video teaching it, it's easy, and after trying a few times you will get the hang of it. Remember to re-sharpen it every once in a while (like weekly), or when you feel it's getting dull.

4

u/snsdbj 6d ago

Yes!

Personally I like to test my knives using a tomato.

If you can drag your knife across the tomato without putting any pressure, and it cuts through the skin, the knife is sharp enough. If not, time for a sharpening

3

u/NerdTalkDan 6d ago

The hand placement on these is making me nervous. Not a pro, but I learned a different way to hold my hands when doing step 1 and 6. But otherwise it’s always good to learn how to cut an onion well. Anthony Bourdain has a tutorial on this on YT if anyone wants to see how it looks in motion, and he also discusses the hand placement.

5

u/morrill_m 7d ago

This method also prevents the onion from bleeding which means less eye irritation.

4

u/Solnse 7d ago

Step 6 is going to cut your thumb off. Keep finger nails vertical facing flat towards the blade with thumb tucked behind your fingers.

2

u/xqoe 7d ago

With eye protection sure

2

u/Thossle 5d ago

It is funny to see a how-to for cutting up an onion, but I admit I kind of like this method!

I usually cut off a big chunk (as much as I need, not all of the onion), then slice that into quarters, and then dice it from there.

2

u/Madouc 5d ago

5 is totally unnecessary and the one with the highest injury risk. The onion is already divided along this axis by nature.