The reason that onions are cut this way as opposed to rings is that it cuts
less of the cells of the onions since you're cutting "with the grain" as
opposed to across it. At least that's what I was taught when I was a wee
apprentice. My mentor at that time was an Austrian chef who had started HIS
apprenticeship at 13.


"Kate B" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
> "~patches~" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Kate B wrote:
> >
> > > My SO has been in the pressure cooker for about 5 months with work.
He
> has
> >
> > That's a long time for pressure cooking a SO! He/she should be well
> > tenderized and ready for eating by now.
> >
> > Sorry, couldn't resist
>
> I can't believe I used a pressure cooker reference in this NG. I deserve
> whatever I get ;-)
>
> > > I decided to make Thomas Keller's Onion Soup Gratinee as a starter.
> Since
> > > this calls for a considerable amount of cheese similiar to gruyere my
> usual
> > > cheese breaded pork is probably not a great idea. Keller's onion
soup,
> btw,
> > > is truly delicious. I made the beef/chicken based broth last weekend
> > > (actually used Lynne Rosetto Kasper's brodo recipe from "The Splendid
> Table"
> > > as this is my all time favorite broth recipe) and caramelized the
onions
> > > yesterday. For those of you unfamiliar with his recipe this involves
a
> > > futzy but warranted method of cutting the onions into uniformly thin
> slices
> >
> > Use a mandolin for nice thin onion slices. You can choose the
> > thickness. We like the really thin cut slices sauteed.
>
> I have a mandolin and normally use it for french onion soup but I couldn't
> figure out a way to use it to cut the onions the way Keller suggests. His
> method involves slicing the onion in half lengthwise, coring the onion and
> angling the knife almost flat to the cutting surface and slicing into 1/4
> inch thick pieces following the grain of the onion. It might work with a
> mandolin but I've found Keller's recipes pretty specific and truly
terrific
> if you do things "his way".
>
> Kate
>
>