SC - Chopping onions

[RichSCA at aol.com]

Although Cadoc MacDairi's reply requires little further comment. I thought I 
would add a few words from the Onion, Onion, Onion Book -

Under the Category "Why we Cry"  or "Mine eyes smell onions, I shall weep 
anon" - - W. Shakespeare 

  "Face it: If you are going to chop the ordinary onion, you are going to 
cry.  There are all kinds of strategies for avoiding the tears, but with 
close to 80 years of combined experience at the Onion Cutting Board, we feel 
that there is nothing you can do that really will help.
  Cut onions under water, if you like, but you can't chop them under water 
without washing a lot of the oniony character away.  We have heard of holding 
a slice of bread between your teeth.  It didn't work for us.  Some say you 
should chill onions in the refrigerator before you cut.  Or chop them in one 
of those little closed chopping jars, or in a food processor, but the onions 
may become too juicy for some preparations.  Some experts tell us to keep the 
root intact until the very end because the tear-causing substances are 
concentrated there.
  The coveted sweet onions from Maui, Walla Walla, Vidalia, Texas 1015s or 
California Imperial Valley - don't make you cry.  But they don't keep very 
well.  The very chemicals that cause the tears make possible the long-term 
storage of hot onions.  These compounds fight bacteria and molds.  If a bug 
bites a hot onion, it gets a jolt. 
  An enormous amount of research has gone into the chemistry of the hot 
onion, and scientists have discovered that organic sulfer compounds are the 
villians in the drama.  But there is still no general agreement as to how the 
complex chemical constituents work in creating taste and odor. The gas 
enzymatically formed when an onion is cut is unstable and short-lived, making 
its chemical difficult to study.  But as every cook knows, it lives long 
enough to react with the moisture on the eye, creating minutes amount of 
attention-getting sulfuric acid.  
  In other parts of the book, they ask various chefs how they combat this 
"teary property of onions" - The main consensus of all chefs is that you MUST 
have a really, really sharp knife, cut quickly and work in a well-ventilated 
place. (and a number of them mentioned keeping them cold) 
  Chef Paul Minnillo, of Cleveland's Baricelli Inn likes to use sweet onions. 
 He said "If you don't want to cry, stay away from strong onions.  I've seen 
chefs use surgical gloves, run water, wet their knifes, drop onions in 
boiling water.  God, if you have to go through all that, forget it" 
  But the best comment I like is from Johanne Killeen and George Germon, 
owners of Al Forno in Providence: "If you want to avoid tears, delegate the 
job."
  Which is how I met my Peer.  I seldom cry when I cut onions - no matter 
what kind of onions.  So I frequently volunteer to cut onions when in the 
kitchen.  I cut onions in her (and her late husband's) kitchen so often that 
I was presented with a gift that they kept just for my use.... This really 
neat chain-mail glove...but just one... it was kind of a Middle Ages Michael 
Jackson thingy.  :-)

Rayne 

In a message dated 4/12/00 9:55:59 PM Central Daylight Time, 
macdairi at hotmail.com writes:<< 
 
 >>My grandmother used to place onions in the fridge (sealed in bag to
 >avoid losing any moisture) the night before using.  She said this causes 
the 
 >juice to be thicker and not spray when cutting.  I use this method and find 
that my tears are significantly reduced.
 >
 >Does anyone else use / know of this method (and was she right about the
 >"cold thickens juice" or is due to some other reaction??)
 
 Actually it works quite well when handslicing onions, the onions natural 
 defense is that when its cells are torn open, it releases a sulfuric 
compound that when it reaches your eyes forms sulfuric acid.  The 
vaporization point for this chemical is right around 60F.  Chilling the 
onions keeps the stuff in liquid form and less is released and you can see.
 
 When you are using a mechanized cutter, chilling the onions also makes the 
tissues less crisp, so that there is more damage to the onion as the blade 
goes through at the higher speed.  What happens then is that when the onions 
then come to room temperature, they release a lot more of the chemical, all 
at once and you or someone else gets  gassed out.  Running cold water over 
freshly machined
 onions will lessen this.
 
 Also if you freeze onions before it release their chemicals, you'll be in 
for a nasty suprise if you fry them in any way.
 
 And if you use the goggle remedy, make sure you wash your hands and your 
 face afterwards because you'll have it on your skin and your sweat will make 
 acid just as easily.
 
 :-) OK, I'm gone now.
 
 Cadoc >>