[0 - 1] [Music] more than one of you have asked in the
[1 - 3] more than one of you have asked in the comments on previous episodes for things
[3 - 6] like milk punch koji and cured egg yolks
[6 - 8] how in the world have you not done one
[8 - 17] on onions yet onions it's a fair point [Music]
[17 - 19] [Music] it's hard to imagine a kitchen without
[19 - 21] onions across cultures cuisines and
[21 - 23] continents onions are the starting point
[23 - 24] to basically every food that's worth
[24 - 27] eating onions are popular how popular
[27 - 28] well for one they are the most widely
[28 - 30] consumed allium in the world that means
[30 - 32] they beat out garlic sorry garlic
[32 - 34] perhaps even more impressive than that
[34 - 36] they consistently rank in the top two or
[36 - 38] three most consumed vegetables on planet
[38 - 40] earth ask anyone why onions are so
[40 - 41] popular and you're likely to get the
[41 - 44] exact same answer great flavor the
[44 - 45] ability to impart that great flavor into
[46 - 47] countless dishes onion flavor works a
[47 - 49] lot like garlic flavor so if you
[49 - 50] remember from our garlic bread video
[50 - 51] which you should watch if you haven't
[51 - 53] yet flavor is only created when cell
[53 - 55] walls are damaged when you break an
[55 - 57] onion cell wall by cutting chopping or
[57 - 59] chewing you release an enzyme called
[59 - 60] alanis and that goes to work on a sulfur
[60 - 62] containing compound to start producing
[62 - 64] flavor at the same time another enzyme
[64 - 66] goes to work to create a very special
[66 - 69] compound called propane thiol s oxide or
[69 - 71] pso if you've ever cried when chopping
[71 - 73] onions you have pso to thank for that
[74 - 76] and likely a not very sharp knife that's
[76 - 78] right a dull knife will actually damage
[78 - 79] more cell walls than a sharp one and
[79 - 81] that will create more pso and more
[81 - 83] crying onions are amazing because there
[83 - 85] are so many ways to control and manage
[85 - 86] their flavor to get just the result that
[86 - 88] you're looking for and the first way is
[90 - 91] shopping at the supermarket you'll always find a
[91 - 93] at the supermarket you'll always find a handful of varieties usually yellow
[93 - 95] onions white onions red onions and what
[95 - 96] are called the sweet varieties such as
[96 - 98] vidalia and walla walla for cooking
[98 - 100] yellow onions are king because they
[100 - 102] produce the most strong onion flavor
[102 - 104] cooking mellows that flavor so you gotta
[104 - 106] start with something big and intense but
[106 - 108] yellow onions for that exact same reason
[108 - 110] can be overpowering when eaten raw
[110 - 111] milder white and red onions are much
[111 - 113] nicer for raw applications don't forget
[113 - 115] that all onions can be made more mild
[115 - 117] for eating raw by simply rinsing the
[117 - 119] slices after cutting just add your
[119 - 121] sliced onions to a bowl of water let
[121 - 123] them sit for about 15 minutes and then
[123 - 124] drain and dry this step removes the
[124 - 126] pungent flavor compounds that were
[126 - 128] formed on the cut surfaces now about
[128 - 129] those sweet varieties now some of them
[129 - 131] certainly do contain more sugar than
[131 - 132] yellow onions but the sweet actually
[132 - 134] refers more to the fact that they're
[134 - 136] unable to produce that onion flavor in
[136 - 137] the first place i'll explain now the
[138 - 139] pungent flavor compounds in onions
[139 - 141] contain a sulfur atom therefore it might
[141 - 143] not come as a surprise that the sulfur
[143 - 144] content of the soil in which the onions
[144 - 146] are grown can actually have a big impact
[146 - 148] on the intensity of their flavor the
[148 - 149] sweet varieties are grown in really
[149 - 151] specific regions such as vidalia georgia
[152 - 153] or walla walla washington that are known
[153 - 155] for having really sulfur poor soils less
[155 - 157] sulfur makes it into the onion as it
[157 - 159] matures and therefore less pungent onion
[159 - 161] flavor is produced during cutting crazy
[161 - 163] right speaking of cutting we have to
[163 - 164] talk about cutting because this is where
[164 - 166] you have a ton of control as a cook
[166 - 168] depending on how you cut an onion you
[168 - 170] can create different amounts of onion
[170 - 172] flavor this minced onion has more flavor
[172 - 174] than this cross grain sliced onion which
[174 - 175] has more flavor than this pulled pole
[176 - 177] sliced onion which has more flavor than
[177 - 179] this smashed whole onion okay so i guess
[179 - 181] no one does that with onions but the
[181 - 183] point is the more slicing chopping and
[183 - 185] cell wall breaking that you do the more
[185 - 187] onion flavor you create and yes you
[187 - 189] heard me right slicing an onion pull to
[189 - 191] pull or with its natural grain will
[191 - 192] damage less cell walls and create less
[192 - 194] flavor than slicing across the grain
[194 - 196] which damages many more cell walls oh
[196 - 198] and a cross-grain slice of onion will
[198 - 200] fall apart much more readily during
[200 - 201] cooking than a more structurally sound
[201 - 203] pulled pole slice so use that in your
[203 - 205] cooking as needed but that's not all
[205 - 207] even the part of the onion you cut will
[207 - 208] make a difference the outer layers
[208 - 210] contain more of those flavor precursors
[210 - 211] than the inner layers so it'll be more
[211 - 214] flavorful wow onions
[214 - 216] wow while we're deep into cutting i want
[216 - 217] to talk about two options for slicing
[217 - 219] onions pull to pull you can slice
[219 - 220] straight up and down like this and make
[220 - 222] a fine sliced onion i mean look at those
[222 - 224] those are fine sliced onions but if
[224 - 225] you're looking for a sliced onion with a
[225 - 227] little more style and grace you can
[227 - 229] follow the natural radial pattern of the
[229 - 231] onion and angle your blade as you go the
[231 - 233] result is cleaner prettier slices that's
[233 - 235] all but they sure are pretty even order
[235 - 236] of operations matters when it comes to
[236 - 237] cutting an onion at least when it comes
[238 - 239] to dicing and mincing now in this case
[239 - 241] it's not about flavor it's about ease of
[241 - 243] execution to dice an onion you need to
[243 - 245] make both vertical and horizontal cuts
[245 - 247] now for most humans the horizontal cuts
[247 - 249] are more challenging so you want to set
[249 - 251] yourself up for success check out this
[251 - 252] experiment if you make your vertical
[252 - 254] cuts first you compromise the structure
[254 - 256] of the onion making your horizontal cuts
[256 - 258] a lot more difficult see how much
[258 - 259] trouble i'm having with this simply
[259 - 260] reversing the order of operations and
[260 - 262] doing your horizontal cuts first makes
[262 - 264] it a lot easier so you check it out
[264 - 265] you'll also notice that for the
[265 - 266] horizontal cuts i start at the heel of
[266 - 267] the blade and pull it through in a
[268 - 269] slicing motion to the tip that helps the
[269 - 271] knife glide through the onion and it's a
[271 - 272] lot better than starting in the middle
[272 - 274] of the knife and sawing back and forth i
[274 - 276] hear some of you saying right now but i
[276 - 278] hate horizontal cuts and i never want to
[278 - 280] make one in my entire life damn what can
[280 - 282] i do well like with most things in life
[282 - 284] you can totally avoid it and it's fine
[284 - 286] you just need to make an additional cut
[286 - 287] on each half so you're working with
[287 - 289] onion quarters like this then you just
[289 - 291] slice vertically knock it over 90
[291 - 293] degrees and slice vertically again okay
[293 - 295] one final note on cutting we all know
[295 - 296] that prepping ahead of time is one of
[296 - 298] the cook's most powerful tools and you
[298 - 300] can prep all kinds of vegetables pretty
[300 - 301] far in advance with little loss of
[302 - 303] flavor or texture not so with onions
[304 - 305] that cascade of chemical reactions you
[305 - 307] set off with your knife continues as
[307 - 309] onions sit and that lovely onioniness
[309 - 311] quickly gives way to harsh and
[311 - 313] unpleasant flavors day old cut onions
[313 - 315] are pretty gross so best bet is to just
[315 - 316] cut them right before you need them if
[316 - 318] you do find yourself with sliced onions
[318 - 320] that were cut a day or two ahead we did
[320 - 322] find one application where they actually
[322 - 324] work pretty well and that is caramelized
[324 - 326] onions and that is what we call a segway
[326 - 327] let's go to the kitchen
[327 - 329] we're going to make a batch of cook's
[329 - 330] illustrated senior editor lon lam's
[330 - 332] recipe for caramelized onions because
[332 - 334] they are delicious they're much faster
[334 - 335] than your standard caramelized onion
[335 - 337] recipe and they demonstrate the
[337 - 339] beautiful power of water that's right
[339 - 340] we're gonna start with sliced onions
[340 - 341] three quarters of a cup of water some
[342 - 344] salt and oil in a covered 12 inch
[344 - 345] skillet and we'll cook them this way
[345 - 347] until the water evaporates as steam and
[347 - 349] the onions collapse and soften then we
[349 - 351] remove the lid and
[351 - 353] okay these do look pretty sad at this
[353 - 354] point but here's the thing the early
[354 - 355] part of caramelizing onions the
[355 - 357] traditional way isn't about browning at
[357 - 358] all it's about collapsing and
[358 - 360] tenderizing and releasing sugars and
[360 - 362] water makes that happen faster then we
[362 - 364] just ditch the lid reduce the heat and
[364 - 366] alternate between stirring and pressing
[366 - 368] the onions into the pan for just 15 to
[368 - 370] 20 minutes all in we get silky tender
[370 - 372] richly flavored caramelized onions on
[372 - 374] about half an hour and once we've done
[374 - 376] that we are mere minutes away from the
[376 - 378] world's greatest expression of oniony
[378 - 380] goodness you know what i'm talking about
[380 - 382] onion dip this one is rich with sour
[382 - 384] cream and yogurt packed with caramelized
[384 - 386] onions and finished with chives and
[386 - 387] black pepper just one of the many
[387 - 388] incredible things you can do with
[388 - 390] caramelized onions another versatile
[390 - 392] onion staple that every fridge deserves
[392 - 394] is pickled red onions and these couldn't
[394 - 395] be easier we just make a pickling liquid
[395 - 397] with vinegar water sugar and salt and
[397 - 399] then we just heat that up real good and
[399 - 401] pour it over a pile of sliced red onions
[401 - 402] these guys are ready to eat after about
[402 - 403] eight hours of fridge time and they're
[404 - 405] happy to hang out there for another two
[405 - 406] weeks while you figure out how to put
[406 - 408] them on well everything i love them on
[408 - 411] sandwiches and especially on salads but
[411 - 413] that is not the ultimate way to eat
[413 - 417] onions this is how to eat onions
[417 - 419] nah come on it's this dip
[419 - 425] obviously it's the dip
[428 - 428] so did i convince you to try onions if
[428 - 430] you do so let me know in the comments
[430 - 431] what you think of them and we'll see you