Chopping an onion neatly and efficiently is necessary when producing lots of dishes or large amounts. Even if you are making a small dish or sauce the onion should be neat to give the dish a good appearance and facilitate the even cooking of the onion.
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Begin by cutting off the top.
Cut off the bottom and peel off all the skin.
Cut the onion in half from top to bottom.
Remove the root by cutting a V upside down in the bottom of the onion.
Turn the onion over and flat on the board. Then slice the onion. Cutting from the top to the bottom or from the top to the root.
Cutting in this way is called the 'Lyonnaise'. Use this cut for potato dishes, curries etc.
For this next part we are going to produced chopped or diced onion. Begin by peeling the onion without cutting off the root. Then cut slices into the the onion but only as far back as 5mm from the root. The more slices closer together the finer the dice of onion.
Next cut slices across 2 or 3.
Lastly turn the onion round and cut slices to the same thickness as the first cuts.
The result will be chopped onion all the same size. Don't worry if it does not go so wel the first few times you just need to practise.
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