How To Dice Onions
Instructions
1. Peel onion, cut in half.
2. Lay the flat side of one half the onion on your cutting board with the root end away from you.
3. Use either a paring knife or a utility knife. (The utility knife is slightly longer and it is handy because you have more reach with it.)
4. Take the onion to the edge of the cutting board and anchor it with the palm of your non-cutting hand. (Use the palm of your hand so that your fingers are away from the knife -- out of harm's way!)
5. Make a series of horizontal cuts, closely spaced together. Don't cut through the root, as the root is what's holding your onion together.
6. Then do vertical cuts. Cut just enough to slice through most of the onion. You can pull back the onion a little bit to expose more of it.
7. Rotate the onion a quarter turn.
8. Use a chefs knife and the same cutting technique that you would when slicing an onion -- place the point of the knife down in front of the onion, and move your knife forward and down. Slice through it and you have nice dices. You can continue to use your paring or utility knife, but a longer Chef's knife makes this step easier. Note: The key cutting technique here is to slide the blade across the cutting board and through the onion so that you're slicing the onion rather than crushing down on it while cutting. (By cutting rather than crushing the onion, you do less damage to the onion's cell structure, and reduce the enzymes that are released. This is what causes eye irritation. Never touch your eyes after handling onions, and try to cut them in a well-ventilated space. You can also wear goggles.)
9. You can use exactly the same technique on a shallot or garlic clove: Cut in half, make horizontal slices, then vertical slices, rotate a quarter turn, and use a chefs knife as if slicing.
