How To: Mince An Onion

      A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I were in the mood for a quick fix dinner and instantly started craving pasta with alfredo sauce. This particular sauce requires you to soften a finely minced white onion in a pan (or at least my recipe does ). It wasn't until I asked my boyfriend to help me out by mincing an onion that I realize not everyone has watched a million cooking shows on the Food Network like I have. Perhaps something I had thought to be so basic (as mincing an onion) was indeed considered... skillful? Okay, maybe not, because it's just an onion. "Mince" simply means to cut into very small pieces, pretty basic right? If you have ever been terrified of plunging your knife into a tear inducing onion, let me simplify the process for you:

Getting started...

1: Starting with a sharp mid sized knife, cut the onion in half at the root.

2: Cut a small section of the top of the onion off, as shown below.

3: After removing the outer layer of skin, lay one half of the onion on it's side and slice horizontal slits in the onion as photographed below. Make sure not to slice all the way thru the root of the vegetable.

4: Slice slits on the top of the onion (see below). Be sure not to slice all the way thru the root of the vegetable.

5: Chop the onion in the opposite direction as shown in instruction #4. This will create an even mince:

Tip: It is important to keep the onion's root intact and uncut. This ensures that the vegetable is held together while you are mincing and prevents bits of onion from flying all over your cutting board.

Yours,

Nico