Onions are a staple ingredient in just about any dish, but their smelly, pungent flavors can be difficult to resist. Often, onions cause tears when we chop them, but there are some tips and tricks that can reduce the amount of teariness you experience in the kitchen.
The first trick is to soak your onions in cold water for 10 minutes before chopping them. This helps to mellow out the onion’s harsh sulphur compounds.
Pole to Pole
If you’re making french onion soup, you need to know how to cut onions for the best results. Using the right techniques will help ensure that your onions are uniform and maintain their shape throughout the cooking process.
Onions are a kitchen staple and there’s no shortage of recipes that call for them to be chopped, diced, or sliced. But how do you choose which method is best for a particular dish?
Rather than chopping onions into rings or half moons, you can also use the pole-to-pole technique to slice them. This gives you evenly-sized pieces of onion, and it keeps them from forming chunks that can splatter or burn around the edges of your pan.
Half Moon
To prepare your onions for French onion soup, slice them into half-moon shapes. You can use a mandolin or simply slice them by hand.
Regardless of your method, you need to keep the pieces uniform and consistent so that they caramelize evenly. Larger cuts may take longer to cook, but provided you stick with the same thickness and make sure to stir often, your onions will be cooked to their full potential.
Caramelized onions are a key part of any French onion soup, but getting them right isn’t a task that can be easily accomplished without a lot of patience. The process is time consuming, and trying to rush things is sure to cause problems.
In fact, you might want to take this opportunity to practice your onion-caramelizing skills so that when you’re ready for this recipe, you can do it with confidence. You’ll be rewarded with an incredibly rich and satisfying soup that you’ll be sure to return to time and again!
Rings
Onions are a key component of pretty much every recipe you cook in your kitchen. They add depth of flavor and can be used to make everything from risotto to tacos.
To cut onions for french onion soup, start by halving the bulb and trimming off both ends (root and stem). Then use your knife to slice vertically from pole-to-pole.
This method ensures uniformly cooked onion slices, and will take less time to caramelize than a larger cut. It is also important to stir the onions frequently to prevent strands from darkening faster than others, and to scrape the pan as needed.
Caramelizing the onions is an essential step for this recipe, as it transforms the raw onions into tender, deeply browned, deep-flavored slices. It takes a solid 40 minutes and requires frequent stirring, but it is worth the extra effort as the final result will be amazing.
Wedges
If you’re making a French onion soup, it’s critical to get the sliced onions right. You need even slices that will caramelize and not mushy or overcooked.
To achieve evenly sliced onions, halve each onion from root to stem and peel. Slice each half into vertical 1/4″ thick slices, keeping them as close to the same thickness as possible.
After the onions are sliced, cook them in a large pot, covered, over medium-low heat. Stir them frequently, reducing heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer.
After about an hour, the onions will start to turn a deep brown and develop their intense caramelized flavor. The process will seem slow at first, but it’s important to keep cooking them slowly and consistently to prevent scorched bits of the onions from forming on the bottom of the pan.