The horizontal cut helps the diced pieces come apart when you throw them in a pan. Its not necessary unless you are cooking in a high end restaurant that does too high volume to worry about separating the bits by manipulating then with a spoon/spatula
The edges tend to be slightly oblong and a little bit larger than one might like ideally if you don't do the horizontal cut, but for most purposes, it's not necessary.
It literally says "onyo" and sounds like "onyo," not "onyon." Accent aside, spelling it "onyo" isn't funny either, but that's how it's spelled in any case
@@GreyerShade yo, alliteration is repeating similar sounds at the _beginning_ of each word, like "Harry hurried home" Did you mean a _rhyme_? Is that why you said "ding don" instead of "ding dong"? Butchered the original even MORE just to say you meant to make a rhyme while sounding like you were quoting the video. Maybe I'm not the only one who needs to spend more time on Google! Thanks for the laugh 😂
@@the1337fleet Remember, you came here, I didn't come to you. Its Alliterative Assonace. It wasn't misspelled, it was intention. If I'd known I had to be so specific, I wouldve drawn you pictures. Say it with me: DING DON.... ON-YON. Now try it without: DING DONG.... ONYO. See the difference? It was a poetic device using consonants (alliteration) and vowels (assonance). Now that we've concluded this junior high level course in English and literary devices....... Kindly FackOff! 😂 🤣 * hawk thuu! *
Thank you!!! For decades I have never understood the horizontal cut!! The onion is already in layers! And yet literally EVERYONE does it. Senselessness to the extreme
the horizontal cut is something you do to keep pieces from the outside edges from being overly large, but this is only a concern if you're cutting straight up and down rather than angling the knife to follow the curve of the onion like Jean Pierre is doing here
Finally someone who cuts an onion efficiently. Done it that way for decades. I never understood why the dice should be any different with one or more cross cuts when the onion already comes in layers.
@@neverstopschweikingIt’s to prevent the much wider pieces that are on each side of the onion. You can see in the video that the farther he gets off-center the wider the pieces are going to be.
okay hands down best video explanation ever. Ive spent so many years struggling bc i never worked out that one side has thinner layers. youre a lifesaver ❤
Finally someone who does it the best way! I’ve always wondered why people do the horizontal slice before finishing the dice, just a waste of time and doesn’t accomplish anything
same. It really isn't practical for beginners. They might end up hurting themselves from cutting horizontally. Good thing I discovered it myself. The downside is I was always irritated at pros doing the horizontal cuts.
it can be helpful for some of the pieces on the side if you cut everything straight down, but i don't notice a big difference, so i don't bother. i do it when dicing tomatoes tho.
We literally see at the end of this short why. The "vertical" slice is done flat on a cylinder, so you end up with pieces that don't look "diced" (like the ones at the bottom left of the short at the end). This is logical as the very edge of the cylinder almost match the direction of the cut. Cutting horizontally specifically goes against that direction. But to be fair you only really need the horizontal cuts at the bottom half, the top half is fine without it. As for someone doing it the best way, I have to wonder why he'd remove the end before dicing. Keeping one end keeps the onion together much better as the ends are harder and you end up dicing all of it.
I never understood why people had to cut in the middle when, as you said, it's already perfectly diced haha. That is a very sharp knife btw, it cuts like it's butter. Perfect knife skills
Because Brunoise. Method in video is great as a rough cut method. You can see some irregular sizes and is perfectly acceptable for homecooking. However if you want the whole onion to be uniformly 1/8th inch squares, ie brunoise, then horizontal cuts saves time over repeatedly smashing a knife threw a pile of rough cut onions.
The middle cut is for a fine dice, brunoise as another comment mentioned. If you want your dice’s to be exactly even and fine, the horizontal cut is necessary. But for home cooking? It’s not at all necessary. It can be fun knife skill practices though, especially if you aren’t a professional chef dicing multiple onions a day. But if you just need to get dinner ready, rough dice is more than adequate.
@@Redhotshawntexaswhich doesn't have to happen at the start. Can cut it in half and then chop em off. The thumb method he showed does save more of the onion though.
👏👏 first time I see this way shown on yt.. I kept asking many content creators who did do the horizontal cut (or two) - why? why do they do that? nobody could respond.. or see why that cut was unnecessary fluff... 🤔🤷♂️ I tried to explain soooo many times... yet people couldn't see the sense in my description... I stopped doing the horizontal cut after a few days after being taught to chop onions in the restaurant's kitchen where I started my first job in 2004... that cut was a waste of time.. I had a bag of 20-25kgs of onions to chop per day... I saved a lot of time without sacrificing the quality...
I was looking for ir comment.... 😂😂😂 I always cut my onions like he did.... and I wonder when chefs like Gordon etc slice horizontal into the onion.... I was always like wtf are they talking about?? 😂😂😂 and finally a chef that tells the truth... 😂😂😂
It’s just done to cut the onion into smaller pieces. If I cut a shallot onion at work into chunks like this guy did, I’d get a whooping. Of course different dishes require different uses of the onion, super fine diced onions is mostly for finishing in sauces or raw plating.
Our church sold BBQ Hash for a fundraiser. I helped the two guys prep after my day job. They had 2, 50 pound bags to cut. When I got there they had only prepped half a bag in 3 hours. First they cut like "Ding Dongs" and second they were cutting a quarter dice for an overnight stew. I taught them the proper way and we breezed through the rest in about an hour. I'm glad you show people how to do things. I figure if you can make it easier for them more people will try cooking for themselves. I am amazed at how many people eat out all the time. You are a Gem Chef!!
When I did prep for Moe's I would usually have to julienne 1 bag of onions and 60-70 lbs of green bell pepper every morning. I got that prep time to around 45mins - 1hr. The most important thing here is how insanely sharp that knife is to handle ripe red onions like that!
I promise you, I mean this with the utmost respect! This monologue sounded so like the scene from the 1976 The 12 Tasks of Asterix movie, when they had to finish the meal made by Mannekenpix. I enjoyed this video so much. Thank you!
Yes! This what you do if you work in a hotel have to chop a 50 lb bag quickly. Precise but quick. I learned early to watch the prep cooks that had to peel 100 lb of potatoes, or apples, or carrots everyday... Those are the ones that know how to do it the best.
👏👏 first time I see this way shown on yt.. I kept asking many content creators who did do the horizontal cut (or two) - why? why do they do that? nobody could respond.. or see why that cut was unnecessary fluff... 🤔🤷♂️ I tried to explain soooo many times... yet people couldn't see the sense in my description... I stopped doing the horizontal cut after a few days after being taught to chop onions in the restaurant's kitchen where I started my first job in 2004... that cut was a waste of time.. I had a bag of 20-25kgs of onions to chop per day... I saved a lot of time without sacrificing the quality...
You quickly became my favourite online Chef! As a child I used to watch Graham Kerr “The Galloping Gourmet” on TV and would frantically try to write down the recipes lol Now I can watch your videos whenever I need to follow a recipe. Sadly my mother died last year and I know she would have Loved to have watched you as well for your easy to follow instructions and mostly for your great sense of humour!! ❤
my mom, grandmom and myself cut onions in this safe manner. Culinary schools don’t always teach the safest techniques, I cringe when I see ppl do it and worse when they argue with you and tell you that’s how the professionals do it! What a ding dong🤣
Thank you for the video, Chef! This method of cutting the onion is interesting to me since I usually leave the root on while I dice my onions (cut halfway through the root, but leave it on as I slice and dice each onion half). The reason why I leave the root on and cut around it is it's supposed to reduce how much the onion "bleeds", keeping your eyes from tearing up right away. I'll give this method a try and see if there's any difference in that regard.
Thank you for your comment. The reason why you cry when you cut and onion is because you are releasing a gas that reacts with the water in your eyes that gas is in the entire onion so cutting or not cutting the roots does not change a thing.! 😊
That's a valid point! Onions are naturally layered, and many chefs argue that horizontal slicing isn't necessary and can be risky, as it involves cutting towards your hand. Since the onion layers already create a natural grid once vertical cuts are made and then sliced perpendicular to those cuts, this can be sufficient to achieve a dice. The choice to slice horizontally might depend on personal preference or specific culinary training. Some find it helps achieve a more consistent dice, especially for recipes requiring very uniform pieces, while others prefer to rely solely on the natural layers of the onion to simplify the process and reduce the risk of cutting themselves. Ultimately, both methods can work, and it often comes down to the chef's technique and comfort with their knife skills.
