It was bound to happen. Inevitable, perhaps unavoidable. Yep, the How to Chop an Onion blog post. Sure, if you google “How To Chop an Onion” there are already about 15 million sites that have this information in some way, shape or form. This does not include all the times it has been on the FoodTV. Pretty much every chef and their individual relatives have a post about this. In truth, I don’t want be left out. There is a certain dazzle about chopping onions – it does bring people to tears after all. I can think of no other vegetable that is chopped like it or one as popular (google how to chop a carrot and you only get about a million hits). What self respecting food blog wouldn’t have this information?
How to Chop an Onion – A History
Why do we chop onions this way? It seems like an odd question and who really cares, but I think it is interesting to consider how long lived preparations and techniques are in the kitchen. Many of the dishes we know today go back hundreds of years, as do techniques. Take for instance the julienne cut. This cut – where you cut vegetables to the shape of match sticks – was first referenced in the 1700s in a book called Nouveau Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeois by a guy named François Massialot. This type of longevity is also the case for many terms like mirepoix, and brunoise. I looked specifically for a historical reference to cutting onions. When I went to culinary school the french term used for cutting onions finely is ciseler. It was not until I was was looking at definitions in Le Repertoire de la Cuisine that I got a hint of how old this technique may be. Ciseler is defined more specifically as the way of cutting like a chaff cutter. A chaff cutter is a machine with a blade that cuts wheat across the grain of the stems making tiny pieces called chaff. The grain would be stacked, compressed and sliced with the blade connected to the box in which the grain is held. You can imagine the grain looking like straws stacked longways and small cuts being made end to end so you are left with very very short straws. An onion looks just like this before dicing when using the method we are so familiar with.
This video shows you how to chop an onion and the method is described below with pictures.
The method can be described this way…
How to Chop an Onion
Cut the onion in half through the root end. Peel the onion.
Lay the onion half on the flat side. Trim the stem end (Not the hairy end. The hairy end is the root end.)
Starting at the stem end, make horizontal knife cuts through the onion stopping just before the root end.
Turn the onion 90 degrees so the stem end is in the front. Using the tip of the knife make vertical cuts into the onion leaving the pieces intact at the root end. The space between vertical and horizontal cuts determines how fine the dice is.
Turn the onion 90 degrees and slice across the “grain” of the vertical slices from the stem end to the root end to create the dice.
Voila! That is how you chop an onion. And, if this method is connected to the old school chaff cutting, it has been around a long time and still alive and well today. It is fascinating, but, in truth, I can find no reference to this style of cutting an onion in very early cookbooks such as La cuisiniere bourgeoise: suivie de l’office, a l’usage de tous ceux qui se mêlent de dépenses de maisons : contenant la manière de disséquer, connoître & servir toutes sortes de viandes. by Menon (one of the greats in classic French cooking). In this book, published in 1771, there is no mention of ciseler in reference to onions. The verb used is hacher – to mince. When did this technique come to America? Probably from Julia Childs. Mastering The Art of French Cooking (1972) mentions this very technique. We are sure she learned it in France, but where it is codified is hard to find. Perhaps it was just passed on that way through the ages. I will keep looking for an answer!
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How do you chop an onion? Do you know anything about the history of the method? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook.
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I enjoyed reading a bit on the history of this process. Thanks for that. I was reading a few other posts and I saw one where the chef didn’t make the horizontal slices (planks) and went straight to the vertical slices as if they were lines around a globe. I saw merit in that approach, but when I attempted it in the kitchen, I found it challenging to make the cuts that were all the way at the sides. I thought I found a better method, but now I’m back to the one that you showed. By the way, great photos.
Jay