Things you should know before you get married, Part 1: How to correctly cut an onion

My husband and I enjoy eating together. We enjoy the idea of cooking together but in actuality, doing so has proven to be a challenge... unless there is lots of wine involved (and then things get dangerous). There is such a thing of "too many cooks in the kitchen." As trite as it sounds, many of our disagreements in the kitchen prior to marriage stemmed from our two different methods of cutting an onion. I was afraid he was going to cut his fingers off and he was afraid of being wrong about something, so we argued. I finally decided that if we were going to start marriage off on the right foot then we needed to skip the pre-marital counseling and go right to Skill Development Boot Camp at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. My wedding gift to him was the skill of cutting an onion - not his way or my way, but the correct way. Romantic, eh?

Believe it or not, my husband was thrilled about our culinary vacation. We learned the basics through hands-on training in the kitchen and we learned from the best, while immersing ourselves in the frenetic excitement of cooking at the renowned CIA. He only managed to slice his finger open once during our two long days in the kitchen, and we still reminisce about the amazing food we made and ate while there.

Cutting an onion the correct way - and there is a correct way - is scary at first, I'm not going to lie, but practice makes perfect when it comes to knife skills. In the long run it's must faster and easier (and safer!) than other methods you may be using. This quick video does a better job than I can at walking you through the steps it takes to get that perfect mince, dice or chop. Once you've mastered the onion, you can move on shallots, garlic cloves, tomatoes, etc.