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Follow these steps to chop an onion or shallot. This takes a little practice, but once you've done it a few times you'll see how efficient it is. Always make sure your knife is nice and sharp (recommendation for a solid knife sharpener here) so it doesn't slip and you accidentally cut yourself.
Do you cry when you cut onions? The reason is due to a sulfuric enzyme that is released when you cut into an onion. When that enzyme mixes with the natural moisture of the eye, it irritates the eye and may make you tear up. Most of the enzymes are stored in the core, so keeping the "hairy end" of the onion intact as you work (described below) may help you avoid some tears as well as keeping the onion together as your work. I wear contact lenses which act as a little barrier against the irritant, so I always joke with my students that cutting onions without being affected is one of my super powers :)
What You'll Need:
Step 1
Using a chef's knife, cut your onion in half from "pole to pole." Think of your onion as the planet Earth, and the root end (I like to call it the hairy end) is the North pole and the opposite end is the South pole.
Step 2
Working with one half at a time, slice off the non-hairy end of the onion and discard.
Step 3
Remove the papery outer peel. If the next layer down looks questionable, I usually go ahead and remove that as well.
Step 4
Use your knife to carefully make horizontal cuts, starting at the flat side and working your way towards-but not through-the hairy end. Depending on the size of the onion, I typically only make 1-2 of these cuts.
Step 5
Next, make a series of vertical cuts across the onion, about 1/4 inches apart, that go up to-but not through-the hairy end.
Step 6
Last, start at the flat end and start slicing across all of the vertical cuts you just made. Keep the fingers of your non-cutting hand curled inward (I literally dig my fingernails into the onion and then curl) to make sure you don't lose a fingertip. As you work you will see all the nice little pieces of chopped onion you've just made.
Step 7
Cut all the way through to the hairy end. When I get there, I usually flip it so that the hairy end is looking up at the ceiling and trim up around it as well (waste not, want not). Then I discard it and take a few more passes with my knife over my pile of of chopped onion to grab any pieces that look too big.
If your recipe calls for minced onion, be sure to keep chopping your pile of onion pieces until they are as small as possible.
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