Page 62 - YC Cooking School

Mastering Meat 1

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Simple techniques to get you started

Chopping onions
Chopping an onion begins with peeling. To peel the onion, cut the gruff bit off
the bottom of the onion first, taking care to keep the root intact. Then cut off the
top of the onion and peel away the outer layers.
Cut the onion in half so it looks like a flower with petals. Then place the onion
down on a flat surface and make small incisions. The onion remains intact

because the root is holding it together, which makes it much easier to cut.
Now turn the onion to the side and slice it. This creates a nice pile of roughly
chopped onions.
Use the guillotine technique to chop onions finely. To do this like a pro, it’s very
important that your knife is sharp.
To create onion slices, take the root of the onion out first. Hold the onion
carefully with your hand and make thin strokes of your knife through the onion.
Practice makes perfect. This is by far the best way to become a whizz at
chopping onions - or any vegetable for that matter.
Dicing carrots

Start by cutting a thin piece off the side of your carrot. This means you’ll always
be working with it on a flat surface.
Use a claw-like action to hold your carrot. This will protect your fingers from
being cut.
Decide on the cut you want. Classical vegetable cuts are useful because they
give you a uniform cooking time. Cut the carrot into a series of long rectangular
pieces for the classic julienne cut, and again into smaller squares for the classic
brunoise cut.

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