How to Chop an Onion

Ever wonder why your eyes burn when you cut into an onion?  With a strong onion, it can be the most unbearable sensation.
When an onion is whole, it encapsulates certain enzymes.  These enzymes are amino acid sulfoxides from sulfuric acids.  Once the onion is split open with a knife, cells are dividing amino acid sulfoxides from sulfuric acids.  Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. explains why this affects our eyes. "Enzymes that were kept separate now are free to mix with the sulfuric acids to produce propethiol S-oxide, a volatile sulfur compound that wafts upward towards our eyes.  This gas reacts with the water in your tears to form sulfuric acid.  The sulfuric acid burns, stimulating your[sic] eyes to release more tears to wash the irritant away" ("Why Do Onions Make You Cry?").  This chemistry explains why people cry when they are cutting onions.  Now that we know the why; how do we prevent this from happening when we chop onions?

Helpful hints about chopping onions...

• Refrigerate the onions before you cut into them.  (Some kitchens peel them and put them in the freezer for 30 minutes before they chop onions)
• Use a SHARP knife!  Dull knives release more of the vapors because it is smashing the cells apart as opposed to cleanly cutting them.
• Cut the onion with as few knife cuts as possible. It is not parsley, do not go over the onion back and forth with the knife.  The tricks I demonstrate in my video (below) are very useful.
• My personal secret... I wear my contacts.  I don't know the "why" behind it, but when ever I use my contacts instead of my glasses, I never tear up.  When I wear my glasses, it is almost as if the glasses trap in the onions gasses even more.

How to Separate an Egg

If you have ever read in a recipe that you needed an egg, separated, and not known what that meant or how to do it; here is a post for you.

First you are going to start out with the egg and two separate containers.  Say that the recipe calls for just the egg yolk.  I like to start the separation over a Tupperware so that I can save the egg whites for future use.  An egg white omelet always sounds good… 

Start by holding the egg in one hand and lightly smacking it on the counter.  Now with the other hand, gently push your thumb into the crack just made.  Because of the crack made, it is easy to pull the two halves apart.  Be careful not to empty egg!  While pulling it apart, tilt the egg to one side (picture it on its tip).  In doing this, the egg white will start to fall off the sides into the Tupperware.  Then continue to switch the contents of the egg to each half until the egg is completely separated.  See video below.

If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below this video.

Ever wonder why an onion makes you cry? Or how to cut an onion so that you wont cry??

How to Treat a Burn in the Kitchen

Picture this...

You have a dinner party planned for this evening, and you are in the home stretch.  Your hors d'œuvres are out and presented; the table is set.  The only thing remaining is for you to pull the roasted lamb rack.  While you reach for the handles of the roasting pan, you realize the towel in your hand is wet.  "OUCH!" You scream, wondering how you are going to get this pain to go away before your guests arrive. 

Coming from an industrial kitchen, this used to happen to me and my co-workers on a nightly basis.  I used to lather on the burn creams, throw on a band aid and a glove over it; however, this did little for the pain. 
I am rather skilled now at cleaning and wrapping cuts, but not great at treating burns.  I became careful not to burn myself; nevertheless, there were always the exceptions when I would. 

One night when I was at the fish/sautee station, I was burnt pretty badly by the cook next to me.  He threw his ingredients into a pan with hot oil and it splattered on my forearm.  Normally that wouldn't bother me, because I don't use my forearm to cook.  Since my arm was constantly over heat that night, the pain was unbearable.

The other Jr. Sous Chef, told me to put a tomato slice on the burn.  I looked at him like he was crazy.  He explained to me that the acid in the tomato will neutralize the pain.  I thought, "what could it hurt?"  Sure enough, I placed the tomato on the wound and the aching started to slowly go away.

I have worked in several other kitchens since then, and taught that trick to many other cooks.  Not only tomatoes work; my personal favorite is lemon.  Squeeze some lemon juice on your burn or hold a lemon slice on it.  The pain will start to minimize.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a cure-all.  The skin will still be tender and sore to the touch, but it does relieve burn pain. I am sure there are other burn remedies out there, but I find this one to be easy, fast and convenient.

If you have other burn treatments, please share on the comment section below...

Watch this short video on how to separate an egg white from its yolk.