[0 - 1] - Hi, I'm Frank Proto.
[1 - 3] I'm a professional chef and a culinary instructor
[3 - 7] and this is everything you need to know about cutting onions.
[9 - 12] This is not bad at all. It's sweet.
[12 - 14] I can smell the onions coming through my pores already.
[14 - 16] We'll be going over the best methods to peel
[16 - 19] and cut your onions with the least amount of tears.
[19 - 21] We're talking slicing, dicing, chopping, grating,
[21 - 22] just to name a few.
[22 - 25] This is cutting onions 101.
[25 - 28] Onions are the backbone of so many savory dishes.
[28 - 30] Every dish needs a different type of cut
[30 - 32] and those cuts determine
[32 - 34] how much flavor your onions will have.
[34 - 35] Let's get into the first chapter,
[35 - 37] how to peel your onions.
[37 - 39] I'm gonna make everyone on set cry today.
[40 - 41] Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
[41 - 42] Before we get into anything,
[42 - 45] let's address the tears and the myths.
[45 - 47] Onions contain both sulfur compounds
[47 - 48] and an enzyme called synthase.
[48 - 50] As soon as you cut into the onions,
[50 - 52] those two elements combine
[52 - 62] to form a chemical compound called, syn-propanethial-s-oxide.
[62 - 64] That compound is release into the air
[64 - 66] and that's what irritates the gland in your eyes.
[66 - 67] There are a lot of myths
[67 - 70] and methods that people say will stop you from crying.
[70 - 72] Some of the methods that could work is
[72 - 74] make sure you cut with a sharp knife.
[74 - 76] Avoid cutting the onion near the root end.
[76 - 78] But honestly, the only thing that's ever worked for me
[78 - 79] is wearing my contact lenses.
[79 - 81] Now that we got all that out of the way,
[81 - 82] it's time to peel.
[85 - 87] There's a few different ways to peel onions
[87 - 90] and it all depends on what you're gonna use them for.
[90 - 91] The first way I'm gonna show you
[91 - 94] is the way that we teach in culinary school.
[94 - 95] This is not my preferred method
[95 - 97] but it's something you should learn
[97 - 99] just to have it as a skill.
[99 - 101] It takes two knives, paring knife, and a chef knife.
[101 - 103] For this part, I gonna use a paring knife.
[103 - 106] Usually what you'll do is you'll take the bottom off
[106 - 110] and then you'll peel away the skin to the root end
[110 - 113] to make sure that you get any dry skin off
[113 - 116] 'cause dry skin is basically paper.
[116 - 117] Now you wanna leave the root intact
[117 - 120] but you don't want any of these kind of ugly root ends.
[120 - 122] So you're just gonna cut this flat.
[122 - 123] I'll leave the end intact
[123 - 126] especially for when we're slicing and chopping.
[126 - 128] This makes the onion hold together
[128 - 130] so that it's not kind of falling apart
[130 - 131] while you're cutting it.
[131 - 134] And that is the classic culinary school peel.
[134 - 136] Part of the reason I don't like this method
[136 - 138] is that I have to use two knives.
[138 - 139] I use a paring knife,
[139 - 141] and then I have to put this down
[141 - 143] and chop with my chef knife.
[143 - 145] The method that I use on a daily basis
[145 - 147] when I peel my onions is a little different.
[147 - 149] I learned it from one of my cooks,
[149 - 151] I'll never forget 'em, Alberto.
[151 - 153] Alberto said, "Chef, you're doing that wrong."
[153 - 154] And I was a chef.
[154 - 158] So I was like, "My prep cooks telling me how to cut onions."
[158 - 160] Those are the best people to learn from
[160 - 161] 'cause they do it more than you.
[161 - 163] Shout out to my friend, Alberto,
[163 - 166] I'm gonna cut off both ends.
[166 - 167] I'm not worried about that root end
[167 - 168] because when I chop it,
[168 - 170] it's gonna be a little bit of a different method.
[170 - 172] And then I cut it in half
[173 - 175] and I just peel away that first layer.
[175 - 178] People will be like, "Oh chef you wasted so much."
[178 - 179] But when I went to culinary school,
[179 - 181] I was taught to use this in my stop.
[181 - 183] So it's not a waste.
[183 - 185] Now my method might not work if you're making onion rings
[185 - 186] or you're grading the onion,
[186 - 188] but it works for pretty much every other cut.
[188 - 189] Once you're done peeling,
[189 - 192] you wanna make sure that you clean your cutting board
[193 - 196] Any little bits and pieces you can see this onion here
[196 - 197] has a little piece of skin
[197 - 199] you wanna make sure of that comes off.
[199 - 201] This is in edible.
[201 - 202] This is like paper.
[202 - 204] You might as well just take napkins
[204 - 206] and paper towels and put 'em in your food.
[206 - 207] Now that our onions peeled,
[207 - 209] let's get into how we're gonna cut them.
[212 - 213] We're gonna start by slicing,
[213 - 214] and there's a few ways you can do this.
[214 - 216] You can do full rings, half rings,
[216 - 219] thick slices, thin slices, and julienne.
[219 - 221] We use a julienne cut
[221 - 223] when we don't want the onions to fall apart, right?
[223 - 226] So, something like a French onion soup.
[226 - 228] You want to see these slices of onions in there.
[228 - 231] All the onions have these lines.
[231 - 232] I'm cutting with those lines
[232 - 233] and that's my julienne.
[233 - 238] So I follow the curve of the onion just to get even slices.
[238 - 242] So you'll see that my knife follows the curve.
[242 - 245] Once I get here, I flop that down
[245 - 248] and I start following the curve again of the onion.
[250 - 253] Another way to slice an onion is to cut into rings.
[253 - 255] And this is where I use that nice peeled onion
[255 - 257] with the culinary school method.
[257 - 258] The root is intact.
[258 - 262] Normally you want your onion to be flat, so it doesn't roll.
[262 - 263] But when it comes to rings,
[263 - 264] it's always gonna roll a little.
[264 - 266] So you wanna make sure you have a good grip
[266 - 267] and with thin rings
[267 - 270] I'm just gonna make sure I have a nice sharp knife.
[270 - 272] This I would use for maybe salad.
[272 - 275] And then you can kind of do thick rings
[275 - 276] that you would use for onion rings.
[276 - 278] Now, I change my grip there
[278 - 281] and I grab it from either side
[281 - 282] and I cut it like that.
[282 - 285] With half rings you would just cut your onion in half
[285 - 288] Again, I don't have this stem on this one.
[288 - 290] I'm just going nice and thin.
[290 - 292] This is great for garnishes.
[292 - 294] I use this for sandwiches as well.
[294 - 296] And then you can just go nice and thick as well.
[297 - 300] Thick half rings used for something like fajitas,
[300 - 302] or something that you wanna have some onion bite to.
[302 - 304] Now let's get into dicing the onions.
[304 - 306] We're gonna go over fine chops,
[306 - 308] small dice and medium dice.
[308 - 310] I'm gonna do a small dice first
[310 - 313] and this is how you would do it the culinary school way.
[313 - 316] I'm gonna cut it through the root end,
[317 - 318] leaving that root end intact.
[318 - 320] That's gonna hold my onion together.
[320 - 321] I'm gonna lay it down flat.
[321 - 323] Root end away from me.
[323 - 325] I'm just going to cut,
[325 - 326] but not cut all the way through,
[326 - 329] the tip of my knife is not cutting through the end.
[331 - 333] Go all the way, right?
[333 - 336] Turn it cut, through.
[337 - 340] We're going to rock our knife
[340 - 345] or go through and cut a small dice.
[345 - 347] Now this end piece, you can turn over
[347 - 349] and get a few more cuts out of it
[349 - 352] but you can always use this for stock.
[352 - 354] This I would use for a garnish on something,
[354 - 356] maybe like tacos.
[356 - 360] I would also use this to kind of saute in a soup
[360 - 362] where I want the onions to kind of fall apart.
[362 - 365] Now I wanna show you small dice with my method.
[365 - 368] It's similar to the culinary school method.
[368 - 369] It's just a lot quicker.
[369 - 371] I find that it's at least one third quicker.
[371 - 374] I take the root and I turn it away from me.
[374 - 377] Now I'm gonna cut, but not all the way through.
[379 - 382] And basically what I'm doing here is I'm cutting it
[382 - 385] along its natural separations.
[385 - 386] I'm gonna take my knife
[386 - 390] and follow the angle of the onion, right?
[394 - 397] When we get to this point, flop it down,
[398 - 401] and then just finish my dice.
[401 - 403] I always find this is a little safer.
[403 - 405] I don't particularly like cutting towards myself
[405 - 407] on the culinary school method
[407 - 409] and it usually just falls apart
[409 - 411] along its natural separations.
[411 - 413] For the medium dice it's the same method
[413 - 415] we're just gonna cut it bigger.
[415 - 417] Instead of getting a really small
[417 - 419] we're just gonna make our cuts bigger.
[422 - 425] And of course I'm using my method here.
[425 - 426] I'm gonna use this for things
[426 - 428] that I want to see the onions in.
[428 - 430] They're not gonna melt like the small dice
[430 - 432] there'll be some chunks of onions.
[432 - 434] Again, kinda soups, stews
[434 - 435] and stuff like that.
[435 - 436] Let's get into the finely chopped onions
[436 - 438] and this is really gonna make you cry.
[438 - 441] The cut is really similar to the small dice,
[441 - 444] except I'm gonna go really close together here.
[445 - 449] Again, a sharp knife really helps with this, right?
[449 - 450] And then we get in there,
[452 - 455] I'm gonna get as close as humanly possible
[455 - 458] without slicing my fingers off.
[459 - 461] And if it's not small enough for you
[461 - 462] then you get your knife in here
[462 - 465] and your rock and you get your nice fine chop.
[465 - 468] I'm not crying 'cause I'm wearing my contact lenses.
[468 - 470] Is anyone else on the crew crying?
[472 - 473] Lemme keep chopping.
[473 - 475] We'll see, we'll get there.
[475 - 478] Finely chopped onions you can use as a garnish.
[478 - 479] If you ever a caviar service
[479 - 482] they always have a little finely mince onions for that.
[482 - 484] And if you're not that fancy you can cook it
[484 - 487] and use it in stuffings.
[487 - 488] They just kinda disappear.
[488 - 490] Is anyone I'm feeling this now, so.
[490 - 491] To get results like this
[491 - 494] you can also use a food processor
[494 - 499] or you can go on the internet and get one of these gadgets.
[499 - 500] Look, it has all the parts.
[502 - 503] Let's give it a go.
[503 - 505] I'm gonna take a half onion.
[507 - 509] Are we ready for this?
[509 - 510] Look at that.
[511 - 514] That worked a lot better than I thought it would.
[514 - 517] I'm not usually a gadget guy, but that I'm pretty impressed.
[517 - 518] That's it for dicing,
[518 - 519] let's move on to grating.
[519 - 521] This is a box grater.
[521 - 524] If you don't have one go out and pick one up.
[524 - 526] Every house needs to have one of these.
[526 - 530] You have, fine shredding, large shredding, grating,
[531 - 532] and then slicing.
[532 - 534] Slicing is kinda useless.
[534 - 535] Just use a knife,
[535 - 537] but all the other sides are great.
[537 - 538] I'm usually grading onions
[538 - 540] for maybe something like meatballs, meatloaf,
[540 - 543] but especially when I make potato pancakes,
[543 - 544] that's what you wanna do.
[544 - 546] This is perfect for potato pancakes.
[546 - 548] If you grate like this,
[548 - 550] I call this the granny method, right?
[550 - 552] Using a lot of muscle groups
[552 - 553] and you get tired really fast.
[553 - 554] I have a different method.
[554 - 556] I get myself a tray.
[556 - 559] I'm gonna lay my grater on its side
[559 - 563] and kinda hold these two together.
[563 - 566] So instead of grating, I'm taking my whole onion
[566 - 567] and I'm pushing, right?
[567 - 568] So I can use my body weight
[568 - 571] and I have some considerable body weight to use.
[571 - 572] And you just push.
[576 - 578] Not only is it quicker,
[578 - 579] it's more efficient.
[579 - 581] I don't need to clean my board
[581 - 583] and I don't need to scrape all of the gratings
[583 - 585] off of my board.
[585 - 587] My fingers are kind of angled up.
[587 - 589] Treat a box greater, just like a knife.
[591 - 592] On a punchy scale,
[592 - 594] this is definitely a 10 outta 10.
[594 - 596] This is gonna make everybody cry.
[596 - 599] Open a window, turn on the fan,
[599 - 600] get outta the kitchen.
[600 - 602] And if you eat this raw
[602 - 604] you're definitely never gonna get kissed.
[605 - 606] And there you have it.
[606 - 607] All the onion cutting techniques
[607 - 609] you're ever gonna need in the kitchen.
[609 - 611] These cuts are not only great for onions,
[611 - 613] but you can use 'em for all your vegetables in the kitchen.
[613 - 615] Don't eat onions like apples.
[616 - 617] It's a bad idea.