How to peel an onion

Onion is a common ingredient in our lives. Many friends like to use onion and other ingredients to make delicious dishes. Onions need to be peeled when they are cooked, and there are some skills involved, otherwise the peeled onions will form irregular shapes and will not be so beautiful.

Onion Varieties

Yellow Onions:

It has a high sugar content, soft flesh, high moisture content, and is storable. Varieties include Dingyuan No. 6, CAL806, etc. Yellow onions have the highest yield and the lowest cost among onions. Most households or restaurants use yellow onions to make dishes. The original spicy taste of yellow onions will produce sweetness after heating, so it is suitable for making any dish that requires heating, such as stir-frying, stewing, frying, steaming, etc.

White Onion:

It is completely white in appearance and is also known as milk onion. It has the sweetest taste among onions. Due to its fine fibers, it is not very durable and can only be stored for one month at room temperature. Its cost is about 20% more expensive than yellow onions. White onions are sweet and are very suitable for making any dishes that require heating.

Purple (red) onion:

Purple onions are the brightest in color and have a crispy flesh. Therefore, you can often see restaurants using purple onions to make salads. Due to their lower yield, their cost is about 20% more expensive than yellow onions.

Tips for choosing onions 2

When purchasing onions, the first choice is those with a smooth surface. If they are bruised, rotten, or not fresh, there will be spots on the surface, which means that there is mold attached to the onion, and it is not recommended to choose them. If it feels soft to the touch, it means the onion is not ripe enough. If onion juice overflows, it is not recommended to buy it.

Look at the top of the onion and determine its freshness by the dryness of the stem.

If you want to judge the spiciness of an onion by its appearance, onions that are shorter and fatter (as shown on the left) taste spicier than onions that are taller and thin (as shown on the right).

Tips for preserving onions

Place newly purchased onions in a cool, dry, ventilated place. At room temperature, onions can be stored for about 2 months. It is not recommended to store whole onions in the refrigerator for too long before cooking, as onions will soften easily when exposed to moisture. Once the onion is cut, it will easily oxidize when exposed to air. If it is not cooked, it needs to be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated to prevent the onion from coming into contact with air.

Tips for cutting onions

1. Onion cutting skills:

How to cut onions without tears: Onions contain sulfide, which volatilizes when cut, and is irritating and can make your eyes tear. The following method can solve this problem:

Chill first: Peel the onions and refrigerate for an hour before cooking.

Soak in ice water: If you are in a hurry to cook, you can soak the onion in ice water for 20 minutes, then take it out of the ice water and cut it before cooking.

2. The forward and reverse cutting methods are very different:

Cutting along the grain: After the onion is cut in half, the lines of the onion grain are parallel to the knife, and this is called cutting along the grain. Cutting along the grain will preserve the fibers and shape of the onion, and the spicy flavor of the onion will be easier to diffuse. If you want the dish to have a spicy flavor, such as to remove the fishy smell of the dish, you can use cutting along the grain.

Cut against the grain: After the onion is cut in half, the grain of the onion is perpendicular to the knife, and the cutting method is called cutting against the grain. Cutting against the grain will cut through the onion fibers, making it less spicy when used in salads.