Honey....why are you crying?

Picture it... Sunday night prepping for dinner, chopping those much needed onions and your husband walks into the kitchen.  You appear to be sobbing, a painful sting in your eyes peppered with constant sniffling.  His immediate reaction... Honey, why are you crying?!?  

  

Okay let's peel back the drama and talk about the reason why you are crying.  It's those dreaded onions.  Cue Alton Brown! When you cut that onion you are breaking the cells which had separated amino acids and sulfoxides.  Now they are loose and ready to mingle.  When they meet up they react to produce propanethiol, a sulfur compound that causes that sniffing, sneezing, teary mess.  

   

I find I use a bag of onions every two weeks.  And as a small preview, this week's recipe will be no exception.  Some people refer to the holy trinity of cooking.  No, not the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  I'm talking about onions, celery, and carrots.  You will come across many onions in my recipe posts so how do we avoid this unpleasant crying sensation you get every time you have to tackle a mound of onions?

Julie and Julia

There are a lot of tricks you can find on the internet such as freezing the onions or cutting them under water.   I have one phrase that I learned from a book title and it rings true.   Repeat this with me now:  "The sharper your knife the less you cry". Cut those babies with a super sharp knife. Make sure its clean and dry and no more tears.  I promise.  

Also, check out this book if you want to read a foodie adventure I would love to take. Great read but try not to quit your job and run off to Paris like I almost did.

Happy Eating!
Jen