Honestly, for most cutting, as long as your knife has been sharpened in like the past few months, the edge geometry of your knife is doing the bulk of the work. There are definitely foods that benefit far more from a sharp knife, like chiffonading basil or to avoid bruising chives, but if your going for a rough dice on an onion, proper technique and a good knife will do most the work. That isn’t to say a sharp knife doesn’t help, it absolutely does, but it gets overstated a bit for home cooks who maybe sharpen their knife’s once a month if ever. You can still dice an onion with that dull knife, and you can even brunoise a shallot if your technique is correct. Make slices, don’t try and just go up and down with the knife. Use the tip more than the bottom of the blade. And I may be going a bit far on the reactionary side, and a sharper knife will absolutely make all these tasks easier. And if you don’t wear contacts like me, a sharper knife will make cutting onions infinitely more pleasant as it doesn’t crush the cell walls as much releasing the sulfur compounds into your eyes making you cry.
Its worth noting that whats considered sharp, or rather "sharp enough" is going to be different person to person. I've borrowed "decently sharp" knives that were barely better than a butter knife.
Eh, Idk. I'd say you should start with getting a good knife, both because it does matter for your cut, makes it a lot easier, and because it safer. And also because it's way easier to get a sharp knife than to train good technique.
Man the amount of cooking lessons on youtube for free is insane. I learn these so much & when i say terms like saute, chiffonade or julienne, friends would just spring into wowwww (we're asians so like totally different cooking world but it's still fucking cool)
100%, the free education is WILD. I remember having to comb through my parents cookbooks and still not knowing if I was doing it right. Now, anything I want to learn is free and comes with in depth videos from a ton of creators competing for my attention. It’s honestly kinda magical
Hey guys, for those who are only starting to learn about knife skills. It is necessary to have a sharp knife. Dull knives can make it much harder to cut and may cause accidents. I know because I've experienced it firsthand. The difference is huge, so get yourself a good knife or learn to sharpen it yourself. 😊
A lot of people in this comment section are talking about the importance of a sharp knife, but another perk is that it makes cutting onions way less tear-inducing. A sharper knife does less damage to the onion cells, so it releases less of the compound that makes your eyes water.
I was in cooking class in school and never git it there, it took me a few years into my own home to really get that right. Still tend to have the thumb a little to long on the veggie sometimes. Good that you teach your kid. Cooking can be so much fun, i wish i learned it earlier.
Don't take this personally but sometimes I'm amazed, by the human brain to not think like 2mm further. I mean, not cutting of the thing that holds the onion together seems obvious. I had those missing thoughts myself and I'm sure there are still missing a bunch, but its always amazing for me to witness them on others
I see the horizontal cut all over the internet and I don't understand why. It does absolutely nothing to improve your dice because the onion is naturally divided up finely due to its layers.
As someone who starting cooking, baking and working on doughs with my parent at 9, who knew these cutting styles had fancy names. You just did as mama showed and had to keep up with the pace.
Don't forget the importance of a sharp knife when cutting veggies! A sharp knife helps so much with cutting clean edges while a dull knife would just mush the veggies.
You do if you want even dices. But outside of a restaurant that's not really necessary. Kenji Lopez-Alt showed how the radial method actually doesn't result in even dices... unless you cut at an imaginary point below and beyond the "center point" of the halved onion.
i have to dice an onion tomorrow for a salad and ive always been TERRIBLE at dicing, even though this went fast i was still able to understand so thank you for this!
I like to cut out the root in a V shape and then marry the two halves of the onion back together by interlocking the V's for better stability while cutting them both at once. I've been told the area around the root is tougher and can compromise the texture, which is why I cut it out, but I doubt it makes much difference unless you're cooking down a LOT of onions, like for onion soup
Pro-tip: When doing a finer dice you don’t need the horizontal cuts, they are both pointless and dangerous. The horizontal cuts are already built into the onion. Try just increasing your vertical cuts then chopping. Way faster and comes out exactly the same.
If you want uniform size the horizontal cuts make a difference. Check the size of the pieces from the outsides of the onion if just doing vertical and across: they'll be much larger. To avoid the horizontal do a radial cut aiming at a point below the bench rather than straight vertical cuts.
@@zydration3538 A slightly rough chop doesn't unevenly cook the food, yo. The even chops are purely for presentation, which is rarely the objective of someone who cooks either for themselves or for a small family. You wanna put that effort in for a big dinner to impress others? Go ahead. Otherwise, as the adage goes, 'ain't nobody got time for that.' Hope that helps.
@aegresen different sizes will cook at different times. It could be a non issue for you personally but that doesn't change this very basic fact. You're always more than welcome to lean on ridiculous assumptions to justify your own laziness, though. It's just silly to pretend they change physics just because it's something you don't feel like doing. Hope that helps.
Horizontal cuts are both unnecessary and completely pointless. The structure of the onion will already provide you with a fine dice if you just do the vertical cuts more tightly spaced.
I feel like such a dunce for never thinking of doing the horizontal cuts through the onion before the vertical ones! I learned how to cut an onion from a Gordon Ramsay video, and he does the vertical cuts first. I guess I just never questioned it because I know he's a much better chef than me!
We make a lot of salads at home that regularly have lettuce and parsley in them but the parsley is always so scrambled and i have a hard time cutting it up. To make it easier, i like to sacrifice one of the lettuce leaves by rolling up all the parsley inside the lettuce then cutting it up
Fun story, in my early twenties, I bought a mandolin slicer, and like the idiot I was at the time, literally told my wife "I dont need the protector" just as I fileted my index finger. It only needed like less than ten stitches to reattach, but ever since then, I've become a proponent of careful knifework. And proper use of kitchen equipment in general.
To the point and useful, thank you! And by watching you, I now know what I was doing wrong all this time, I cut the root and top of the onion first, and that was a bad idea. Thanks !
I've read that in mangas: Japanese do a cat paw (the claw method called other way) for the cutting... don't know how acurate that is - but the naming itself is cute...
With my own food, I take the claw method a little further. I dig my finger nails into the onion, potato, etc. It works but so do other chopping methods until they don’t 😮
No one dices onions right. You chip in have root to stem. Cut off the root and stem from each half. Peel outer layer. Make as small or as large slices from root to stem tilting with the half circle layers. No need for a horizontal cut, those are built in. Easiest way is to cut the half in half, then each quarter in half and so on. But I digress
very good and informational but PLEASE correct the white balance on your phone or whatever you're using to film. The white balance changing every 2 seconds is kinda ugh
DON'T CHIFFONADE BASIL. You might as well make a paste of it and smear it all over the chopping board considering how much flavour you are wasting by chiffonading it anyways.
What can I do when my fingers aren’t capable of the claw method? 😂 especially my middle finger is my strongest finger and my index just always gets into the blade with the nail when I try to claw something 😂😮💨
I hate chopping stuff.. I'm always so scared that I'll cut myself and then everything slips out of my hands when I try to hold it- I wish I could learn how to cook
Idk if anyone else faces this issue but doesn’t the claw method result in you digging your nails into the veggie? Especially if you have anything other than super short nails?
Also how sharp your knife CAN really make a difference but isn't always as important as technique
Honestly, for most cutting, as long as your knife has been sharpened in like the past few months, the edge geometry of your knife is doing the bulk of the work. There are definitely foods that benefit far more from a sharp knife, like chiffonading basil or to avoid bruising chives, but if your going for a rough dice on an onion, proper technique and a good knife will do most the work.
That isn’t to say a sharp knife doesn’t help, it absolutely does, but it gets overstated a bit for home cooks who maybe sharpen their knife’s once a month if ever. You can still dice an onion with that dull knife, and you can even brunoise a shallot if your technique is correct. Make slices, don’t try and just go up and down with the knife. Use the tip more than the bottom of the blade.
And I may be going a bit far on the reactionary side, and a sharper knife will absolutely make all these tasks easier. And if you don’t wear contacts like me, a sharper knife will make cutting onions infinitely more pleasant as it doesn’t crush the cell walls as much releasing the sulfur compounds into your eyes making you cry.
@@bradenculver7457you will resent every waking moment of your life if you try cutting an onion with a dull knife
Its worth noting that whats considered sharp, or rather "sharp enough" is going to be different person to person. I've borrowed "decently sharp" knives that were barely better than a butter knife.
Especially to get the chiffonade right otherwise all you're doing is bruising the herb
Eh, Idk. I'd say you should start with getting a good knife, both because it does matter for your cut, makes it a lot easier, and because it safer. And also because it's way easier to get a sharp knife than to train good technique.
Man the amount of cooking lessons on youtube for free is insane. I learn these so much & when i say terms like saute, chiffonade or julienne, friends would just spring into wowwww (we're asians so like totally different cooking world but it's still fucking cool)
100%, the free education is WILD. I remember having to comb through my parents cookbooks and still not knowing if I was doing it right.
Now, anything I want to learn is free and comes with in depth videos from a ton of creators competing for my attention. It’s honestly kinda magical
for real, anyone these days that says they can't cook has gotta be lying
@@ZZubZZero depends on the algorithm exposure
You said chiffonade....wwwoooowwwww.😂
Yup AND you’re learning French as a bonus! 😜
Great vid good quality
Casually just made one of the top 10 cooking Shorts ever
Hey guys, for those who are only starting to learn about knife skills. It is necessary to have a sharp knife. Dull knives can make it much harder to cut and may cause accidents. I know because I've experienced it firsthand. The difference is huge, so get yourself a good knife or learn to sharpen it yourself. 😊
this
my eyes are watering from a distance
Who is cutting onions in here
A lot of people in this comment section are talking about the importance of a sharp knife, but another perk is that it makes cutting onions way less tear-inducing. A sharper knife does less damage to the onion cells, so it releases less of the compound that makes your eyes water.
Yours too?
Thanks for all this, especially the Claw Method. I've been teaching my kiddo how to prep veggies and that's the one thing that I enforce.
I was in cooking class in school and never git it there, it took me a few years into my own home to really get that right. Still tend to have the thumb a little to long on the veggie sometimes.
Good that you teach your kid. Cooking can be so much fun, i wish i learned it earlier.
Smart that you only cut one edges of the onion, because then it dont fall apart. I gotta try that❤
Exactly! Keeps it all together :)
Don't take this personally but sometimes I'm amazed, by the human brain to not think like 2mm further. I mean, not cutting of the thing that holds the onion together seems obvious.
I had those missing thoughts myself and I'm sure there are still missing a bunch, but its always amazing for me to witness them on others
@@joseppedaia3673 I am screenshotting this and sending it to my friend when he does dumb shit
I got the same lesson from my mother! ^^
I see the horizontal cut all over the internet and I don't understand why. It does absolutely nothing to improve your dice because the onion is naturally divided up finely due to its layers.
Going horizontal is literally pointless. It is already separated by its layers that lay horizontally on top of each other.
📠
As someone who starting cooking, baking and working on doughs with my parent at 9, who knew these cutting styles had fancy names. You just did as mama showed and had to keep up with the pace.
Don't forget the importance of a sharp knife when cutting veggies! A sharp knife helps so much with cutting clean edges while a dull knife would just mush the veggies.
Very educational and informative! 🥰🤗💖
The best culinary video I have seen in a while!
You don't need to do horizontal cuts for a finer dice. You just change the vertical cuts from vertical to following the camber of the onion
You do if you want even dices. But outside of a restaurant that's not really necessary.
Kenji Lopez-Alt showed how the radial method actually doesn't result in even dices... unless you cut at an imaginary point below and beyond the "center point" of the halved onion.
@Un1234l I'm assuming most people aren't watching to learn to cook in a restaurant. At least not a good one. Radial cuts are fine for 99% of the time
best youtube short ever lowkey
fr
best advice..SHARP knife
Man, I started using the claw method a couple weeks ago and though I'm still mastering it, it's already been a game changer
Makes it so much easier doesn’t it!
@@Joe-ox Sooo much and also a lot faster
i have to dice an onion tomorrow for a salad and ive always been TERRIBLE at dicing, even though this went fast i was still able to understand so thank you for this!
Super helpful! Thank you!!🔥
Almost everything u need to know in 60 seconds. This is gold.
Great tips. Thanks for sharing. 👍
you’re so underrated where’s your one million subscribers?? 😅 super helpful video too!!
Thank you! 😊
I like to cut out the root in a V shape and then marry the two halves of the onion back together by interlocking the V's for better stability while cutting them both at once. I've been told the area around the root is tougher and can compromise the texture, which is why I cut it out, but I doubt it makes much difference unless you're cooking down a LOT of onions, like for onion soup
I don't do hardly any of that and still get the job done and fast.
Most important thing in cooking is having a sharp knife
Instructions unclear; I now have 9 fingers.
Honestly… I remember the cutting method. But the think about when it comes to cutting and onion is pretty helpful
22:52 new mythical player unlocked: Professor Cheese
Pro-tip: When doing a finer dice you don’t need the horizontal cuts, they are both pointless and dangerous. The horizontal cuts are already built into the onion. Try just increasing your vertical cuts then chopping. Way faster and comes out exactly the same.
If you want uniform size the horizontal cuts make a difference. Check the size of the pieces from the outsides of the onion if just doing vertical and across: they'll be much larger. To avoid the horizontal do a radial cut aiming at a point below the bench rather than straight vertical cuts.
@@cichlisuite2 True, but I would say that uniformity is only important in a restaurant setting, home cooks need not add that extra step.
@@aegresenwhy is it less important for food to cook evenly at home?
@@zydration3538 A slightly rough chop doesn't unevenly cook the food, yo. The even chops are purely for presentation, which is rarely the objective of someone who cooks either for themselves or for a small family. You wanna put that effort in for a big dinner to impress others? Go ahead. Otherwise, as the adage goes, 'ain't nobody got time for that.' Hope that helps.
@aegresen different sizes will cook at different times. It could be a non issue for you personally but that doesn't change this very basic fact. You're always more than welcome to lean on ridiculous assumptions to justify your own laziness, though. It's just silly to pretend they change physics just because it's something you don't feel like doing. Hope that helps.
Saved and subscribed
Horizontal cuts are both unnecessary and completely pointless. The structure of the onion will already provide you with a fine dice if you just do the vertical cuts more tightly spaced.
Absolutely correct techniques
I feel like such a dunce for never thinking of doing the horizontal cuts through the onion before the vertical ones! I learned how to cut an onion from a Gordon Ramsay video, and he does the vertical cuts first. I guess I just never questioned it because I know he's a much better chef than me!
You just earned a subscription
We make a lot of salads at home that regularly have lettuce and parsley in them but the parsley is always so scrambled and i have a hard time cutting it up. To make it easier, i like to sacrifice one of the lettuce leaves by rolling up all the parsley inside the lettuce then cutting it up
Your videos are really neat and tidy. You'll make it big for sure if you keep it up!
Thank you❤
Gonna use these techniques in my cooking videos fr
Oh THATS how they make the green onion curls in Korean grocery stores!
Fun story, in my early twenties, I bought a mandolin slicer, and like the idiot I was at the time, literally told my wife "I dont need the protector" just as I fileted my index finger. It only needed like less than ten stitches to reattach, but ever since then, I've become a proponent of careful knifework. And proper use of kitchen equipment in general.
Thanks for mentioning my sister.
To the point and useful, thank you!
And by watching you, I now know what I was doing wrong all this time, I cut the root and top of the onion first, and that was a bad idea. Thanks !
Thank you!
Your videos inspire me. Thank you
Very helpful
Those green onion tips are amazing
Glad you like them! 😊
amazing. i love ur content
You should also mention that when you cut the onion vertically they stay together when really cooks down
You can also just eat the onion like an apple whilst taking bites out of your steak or hotdog and it's just as good
Imma send this to my mom
Awesome
my dad was a shef on a ship and he taught me to basicaly put my fingers so the flat of the nail is on the thing im cuting
I've read that in mangas: Japanese do a cat paw (the claw method called other way) for the cutting... don't know how acurate that is - but the naming itself is cute...
pollarding is when a tree's branches are cut, and then mini smaller branches fill in the place of the original branches
thank you!
Excellent tutorial
With my own food, I take the claw method a little further. I dig my finger nails into the onion, potato, etc. It works but so do other chopping methods until they don’t 😮
I learned 90% of that in HIGH SCHOOL
Love your videos ❣️
Thank you bro❤
And lets not forget the most important cutting technique is to always make sure that you spell onion as "onyo".
I was always told you should tear basil, not slice
Depends on where you use it. On a Margherita pizza you would tear it, but for a stew u would cut it
Well done Joe.
What where you trying to craft at the start?
My kitchen knife could never
No one dices onions right. You chip in have root to stem. Cut off the root and stem from each half. Peel outer layer. Make as small or as large slices from root to stem tilting with the half circle layers. No need for a horizontal cut, those are built in.
Easiest way is to cut the half in half, then each quarter in half and so on. But I digress
very good and informational but PLEASE correct the white balance on your phone or whatever you're using to film. The white balance changing every 2 seconds is kinda ugh
if im home cooking onions always get the half cut for the sake of my laziness lolol
I did not knew this crafting in the start😅
would have loved to see this before i nearly chopped my finger off
I'm personally unable to claw without pain which slows me down whenever I have to cut something
DON'T CHIFFONADE BASIL. You might as well make a paste of it and smear it all over the chopping board considering how much flavour you are wasting by chiffonading it anyways.
Personally i only care about the small onion and cilantro, finally street tacos
OH YOU LEAVE THE STEM ON FOR ONIONS! THATS WHAT I'M DOING WRONG! Oh I'm kicking myself now omg
Don't cut an onion horizontally unless it's for an onion ring
Not me just rough chipping when tired
What can I do when my fingers aren’t capable of the claw method? 😂 especially my middle finger is my strongest finger and my index just always gets into the blade with the nail when I try to claw something 😂😮💨
👍🏼👍🏼
A sharp knife is a safe knife, everybody.
I hate chopping stuff.. I'm always so scared that I'll cut myself and then everything slips out of my hands when I try to hold it-
I wish I could learn how to cook
You can, just keep trying 😊
Btw, I've found that making sure your hands and the food you are cutting are all as dry as possible to avoid slippage.
You forgot about picking thr best knife and sharping it. 😅😅😅
I am sure everybody have common sense. 😊
Idk if anyone else faces this issue but doesn’t the claw method result in you digging your nails into the veggie? Especially if you have anything other than super short nails?
It's best to break herbs by hand, otherwise the flavors stay on the cutting board.
The horizontal slice in an onion is the single most unnecessary slice in all of cooking. It literally does nothing.
"oval slivers" is known as Horse Ears in Chinese cooking!
Don't forget to keep those knives sharp! Which I don't...
Better way to cut an onion: just don't bother. They don't add anything except the taste of unwashed gym socks and armpit sweat.
I think the horizontal cuts on an onion do very little
❤
Am I the only person whose eyes started to sting a little bit when he was cutting the onion?
i just put it in a food processor and bam. done.
Never heard of a crescent cut. It is known as frenching or a french cut.
U forgot Mire Pox larger cubes for adding taste
Horizontal cuts do nothing. Turn on ur brain and remember how onion petals are placed.
Don't forget to use a sharp knife and a stable cutting board
horizontal cut for onions are useless, the onion is already layered.
Thanks mate
Do you eat all the food you make?
Haha of course 😄
Why does no one show how they cut the last little bit that's impossible to grasp!! I wanna see how more professional ppl do it!! :(