Onion Goggles for the Bono of Onion Dicers
These $20 Onion Goggles on sale at Amazon boast a "comfortable foam seal that protects eyes from irritating onion vapors", "anti-fog lenses that offer maximum clarity" and a "unisex design that fits most face shapes," hydrocephalics excluded. The only thing I'm really sure about is they seem like an attractive accessory for the fashionologically-obsessed, superstar vegetable dicer.
My real reason for posting: years back, a friend of mine showed me how to quickly dice an onion, mainly through the application of a few preliminary geometric cuts that largely allowed the entire onion to fall apart. This minimized tears because the job was done more quickly. I remember being impressed and then completely forgetting how to do it. Can anyone supply instructions?
RSVP Onion Goggles for Tear Free Chopping, Mincing, Dicing and Slicing [Amazon via Gadget Grid]
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9vRaTW4buQ
Instructions:
Cut off the top, leave the root on.
Cut down the middle, through the root.
Cut vertical lines.
Cut flat lines.
Cut across.
Done!
I use the technique described above but sometimes I also use the onion goggles if it's a particularly strong onion or I'm cutting more than one. And as you might expect, they make you look quite the dork. And they really work.
Um, that technique has a totally superfluous step. There's absolutely no need for the 'flat lines' - onions are already formed in layers, so that step has been done for you by nature!
Wow, only BB Gadgets could attempt a vegetable-chopping hack and make it more complicated than it needs to be! ;)
I just throw mine in the freezer for a few minutes...
Alton Brown has some other tips for tear-less onions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU-gfFzC6Uw
As gunnar said, toss it in the freezer for a couple minutes. Also, cutting under water works great.
And, of course, picking milder onion varieties that don't make your eyes water in the first place works pretty good, too...
Don't cut an onion underwater if your next step is to throw it into hot oil. It'll end in more than tears.
I once saw someone on TV wet a wooden spoon, hold it in their mouth and proceed to chop an onion claiming it negated the fumes reaching the eyes. I tried it. They were lying.
In conclusion:
Good food requires small sacrifice. Cutting an onion might sting your eyes but if your friends are still talking about that bolognaise sauce a week after eating it then your work is done and your sacrifice was not in vain :)
Don't think the above will work with a wooden spoon, but a metal teaspoon always works for me ;)
A small fan blowing lightly across the work area generally works. This, I believe, is the idea behind turning on stoves or lighting candles. But why rely on convection when there are better ways of removing fumes?
Unitasker!
Long-time onion chopper, first-time poster: Keep 'em in the fridge. Cold onions cause no tears.
You insensitive bastard! I'M hydrocephalic!!!
I cut onions in half, pole to pole, then my "vertical" lines radially from the core. This eliminates the need for "flat" cuts, since the exterior segments are already sized the same delicate, waifish, easy-to-cook size.
Simpler solution: just stand back a bit.
Instead of standing over the onion you're chopping (any way you like, root first if you want!) and getting the fumes right up inna your face, chop the onion at arm's length, or even half-arms length.
No freezer, no goggles, no water, no nuffink.
Aren't these just rebranded motorcycling shades? Without the shade, that is.
I have the Onion Goggles. I look good in the Onion Goggles. The Onion Goggle work.
There are other techniques for reducing the amount of eye stinging and tears associated with breaking down members of the allium family, but none that work as well, and make you feel as cool and stylish.
just plug your nose. Most of the onion vapors come in through those offending orifices.
While I don't do most of the cooking in my household, everything I *do* cook has onions. I am ridiculously sensitive to the fumes. These goggles look interesting, though I've found that the fumes seem to irritate most if they're allowed to go into my nose. Yes, I do use the quick method listed above, sans parallel cuts, and it's still not fast enough to keep me from agony. As it stands I have the most relief if I have a damp towel over my mouth and nose while I do the chopping. I may grab one of those full face shields from work and use that the next time I make chili.
Sharpen your knife.
Listen to the man, he speaks the truth.
Nothing works better against tears than a really really sharp knife. The main reason you cry is juice from the onion being spattered everywhere as as blunt knife squeezes the cells causing them to burst and eject irritant juices in every direction. A sharp knife cleanly cuts through the cell walls emptying their contents onto the chopping board rather than into your eyes.
Good ventilation in your working area also minimises gas damage.
Ever since I started keeping my onions in the vegetable tray of my refrigerator, I no longer have any trouble with tears.
Cool onions = No tears while chopping.
Bruno
And the sharpening of blades is an essential skill everyone should have - it oughta be on the top of Heinlein's list.
http://www.elise.com/quotes/a/heinlein_-_specialization_is_for_insects.php
--Charlie
My grandmother holds two unlit matchsticks in her mouth. I guess the phosphorous/sulfur/whatever in the tips absorbs the onion fumes?
The republic is doomed. There are some ridiculous ways to spend money, but "onion goggles"?
Light a gas ring. Works perfectly.
I think these goggles would look great on my onions but do you think they make a larger pair to fit on my Bermudas?
A couple years back, my girlfriend at the time made French onion soup from scratch and used her swim goggles to block the fumes.
Onions in the fridge just make everything in else in the fridge absorb onion aroma over time. Not recommended.
Most of the time I only do one onion, and like others say, sharp knife and quick work = no problem. However, when I need to do lots of onions (say, for French onion soup), I use my ski goggles. Not a unitasker, as I also use them for skiing.
DrTwist, I've seen far, far worse. IE: Virtual "property?" It doesn't even exist and people pay good money for it.
You know what is is the onions squirt that makes you cry? SULFURIC ACID. I shit you not. SULFURIC ACID IN YOUR EYES (so the (don't breathe through your nose thing? Not to be harsh, CHRIS FURNISS, but today you get fail). Get the goggles before it's too late.
Apparently some kind of Chinese-Taoist-vegetarian school of nutritional thought holds that eating garlic and onions basically is the reason we're all not immortal super humans. Might sound a bit extreme, but then SO IS SULFURIC ACID.
I've used so many caps in the post, I might as well end with:
THAT IS ALL.
Onion chopping is an excellent youtube scavenger hunt, and you will see many similar, yet didactically opposing methods. You will actually have to watch and see, and then, TRY, and you will see how you will have to tweak your own style out of their dogma. And you might see despite 'natures cuts' in the onion, you might still need to do some of those third axis cuts if you want the chop to create really consistanely sized pieces.
One legend is that if you remove the root in one piece before the other chops, that will relieve the 'crying' aspect.
And I still think a Mandolin can be damn helpful.
well, i haven't cried an onion tear in a couple years now. this is because i blow air down and across the onions while i chop them. my dad was a professional chef and recommended whistling while you do it which gave me the idea. works great!
-ryan
"Wow, only BB Gadgets could attempt a vegetable-chopping hack and make it more complicated than it needs to be! ;)"
Not true - they even teach the flat cuts at catering collage! - although you are right that they are completely surplus to requirements; in 3 years catering collage, 6 years as a pro chef (before coming to my senses) and a further 6 years cooking at home (but using a lot of onions) I've only ever done the flat cuts when a lecturer was looking over my shoulder...
As someone has already said, most of the vapour enters through your nose - the spoon / match / dildo in your mouth hacks work by encouraging you to breath through your mouth.
The only way these goggles will help is if you're being hit by juice (not vapour) in which case, sharpen your damn knives - you're chopping; not clubbing!
If I recall correctly, it's not specifically Sulfuric Acid that onions squirt in your eyes, but a vapor that reacts with the water in your eyes to produce sulfuric acid.
In other notes, cool onions have made the most difference for me. But honestly, shallots are the worst. I cry like a baby every time.
But oh so worth it.
Leavinghalfway - Yeah you're right. I oversimplified.
From coolquiz.com:
Stupid upwardly-mobile gas!
I wear contact lenses, and I never have a problem with "onion tears". The one time I removed them and wore glasses while cooking I was unpleasantly surprised to find that I was indeed susceptible to the fumes. Has anyone else had this experiences? Moral of the story: wear contact lenses.