cutting onions

jim in glasgow: sheds no tears for you, goddamn onions!

dyao- i was being silly. get yr knives sharpened and oh who really gives a fuck get a slap chop

Shallots make my eyes go even crazier with the tears than onions. Is this the case for others?

no, the worst for me is plain yellow onions. shallots are fine and i try to use them more than other onions because of that and because i like them better

I find it helps a lot to refrigerate the onions for a while before chopping.

Cutting onions (and shallots) hasn't made me cry in years, but it used to. I don't know if I changed, or the onions did.

dyao -- no slap chop! "as seen on tv" kitchen gadgetry is a pain in the ass to wash, and knife skills are easy to come by

Oh I totally mis-read the thing about smoking. Obviously.

My knives are all really really dull, which is crushing the cells open and making it 10x worse. I could solve my own problem by finding a nearby kitchen store or something.

haha okay no slap chop! but should I buy a shamwow! to soak up my tears after cutting the onions?

absolutely yes to shamwow

Laurel, the Lansky sharpening system that Jaq turned me on to is really great -- and I supplement that with this little critter to hone the blade every couple of chopping sessions.

I sharpened all my knives a few weeks ago with the Lansky, after teaching Lingbert how to use it one evening. Any ILXors that want to ship me their knives (or bring them to Seattle) - I will sharpen them and return promptly :) It's very meditative.

totally thought about this thread last night as i was tearing up peeling onions. that is the slow part for me, you get the top off then have to be all gingerly to peel only the dried layers off. and like beck i'm a full grown man but not afraid to cry

my mum puts a glass of water beside the chopping board, claiming this absorbs something or other, it sounds vaguely scientific. i do this too sometimes, it's v weird tho, sometimes my eyes will go mental but i'd say 7/10 i have no reaction whatsoever when chopping onions. i sometimes feel this is a poor indictment of the onion...