[Intro music]
To peel an onion,
cut off the stem on the root side.
So trim the root side, but do not cut off the core.
Okay, because you want to leave the core
intact to hold the layer of the onion
while dicing. Trim the root.
Cut off the head of the onion.
And remove the peel. [peeling sounds]
When you're done look at your onion
and you will realize that the first layer
of the onion is not very particularly nice,
so make a cut, and remove it. [peeling sounds]
Then you may find a thin skin underneath,
so just peel it off. See, right there.
The onion is peeled, so now your onion
is ready to be cut the way you like it.
How to slice an onion.
In French culinary art, we refer to this
technique as emincer. Let's have a look.
Peel your onion.
With a chef knife cut the onion in half
through the core.
With a paring knife make two diagonal cut.
There we go. To remove the core.
and discard it. Place the onion cut side down
on your cutting board, core side away from you.
Make parallel cut to the striations
of the onion. [slicing sounds]
Now put it down. [slicing sounds]
Make sure you keep your fingertips
away from the blade.
And as you see your onions will be
separated and regular.
So now you're onions are emincer.
I'm crying a little bit. That's fine.
It's part of the job.
And they are ready to be used in your recipe.
Diced onions are probably the most
common ingredient in savory recipes.
Let me show you how to dice an onion,
and this is something we call the
ciseler technique in French culinary art.
To dice an onion when you peel you want
to trim the root off, but you want to
leave the core intact. Okay.
So we're going to cut the onion in half
through the core.
And like the emincer technique,
you want to leave the core attached
and intact because the core is going to
keep all the layers of the onion together,
without falling apart.
Place the onion cut side down and
core side on the opposite side of the knife.
Then position your fingers.
Make parallel cuts into the onion,
without slicing through. Okay?
So you want to cut maybe
80% of the onion.
And you want to make all your cuts parallel here,
stopping before the core.
So make regular parallel cuts.
So here I'm doing my cuts small,
maybe 2 to 3 millimeters.
Then bring your onion closer to you.
Because you want to be able to slice through.
Hold the onion.
Make a second horizontal cut.
Then if there is room, a third one.
Now what we have done,
we have cut the onion within a grid.
Okay. But we haven't cut through the core
because the core is holding everything together.
Then position your finger on the top
and dice it. [dicing sounds]
When you arrive at the end of the cut here,
put it down.
Make more parallel cuts.
Maybe one more like this.
Cut and then cut the sides.
So you're going to be cutting around the core.
All I have left is the core.
If they have used pesticide to grow this onion,
most of the traces will be found into the core.
Of course it will be also in the onion,
but also the core will carry strong flavor
from the onion, so do not put it in your cooking.
Do not put it in your soup, stock and so on.
Okay. So cut it and discard it.
So depending on much space you leave
between your cuts,
you will have smaller, larger cut.
Same technique, different sizes.
Mincing is finer than dice.
So to mince an onion you have first of all
to do ciseler onion or to dice an onion.
Then put the food into a neat pile
and place your hand on the left here,
on the top of the blade and do a
rocking motion, up and down.
Then move the food back into a neat pile
with your knife. There you go.
And do it again.
And keep mincing until you are happy
with the result and the size.
Don't forget the side of the knife,
you'll have bigger chunks there.
And keep going. [mincing sounds]
This is how you mince an onion,
but it's the same technique if you want to
mince parsley, garlic, shallot and so on.
The term is mincing and it's finely chopped.
To make onion slices or rondelles
you want to peel an onion and leave it
intact on the outside.
Then position your finger on the top of it
to have a good grip on the onion.
And position your finger with a claw position.
Then place a sharp knife over
and cut through the onion to have thin slices.
[slicing sounds] And repeat the operation
for the entire onion.
So you may make thin or thicker slices.
The key is to be regular and to have them
round and intact.
Then separate the slices.
And have fun with them.