Knife Techniques 101: Onions, Garlic, and Jalapenos

You may already know how to wield a knife but just in case, this is how you get nice, uniform cuts out of onions, garlic, and jalapeno peppers.  Any time I'm cutting lots of small pieces of something, I like to use a medium-sized knife instead of paring knives. They have a better surface area and better balance.

For the onions, start by cutting it root to end.

Cut off one of the ends and with your hand on top, slice horizontally until just before the intact root end.

Then, make parallel cuts on the top just short of the root end.  This will keep all the pieces from falling over while you're trying to cut them.

Place the tip of your knife on the board and don't lift it.  With a back-and-forth chopping motion, slice through the onion half until you get to the root end.  Make sure to keep your fingers out of the way!

For a jalapeno, cut off the top and then slice it in half lengthwise.

Gently run your knife through the ribs and scrape the seeds out.  If you don't think you can do it this way without cutting through and slicing your hand open, please use a spoon to scrape out the pepper.

Keeping your fingers carefully out of the way, slice the halves into thin, even strips.

Again, with your knife tip on the board, start slicing the pepper strips like you did with the onion.  Up and down and back and forth.

When you're forced to get close to your fingers, curl them under slightly so that if the knife gets too close, your knuckles will keep it from catching a stray fingertip.

Garlic is my favorite, of course.  Place the clove on the board and with the blade facing away from you...

SMACK IT!

wtf mom?

 

(But make sure the clove is securely under you knife or else it just might fly out when you smack it and hit the dog.)

Then gently peel off the skin.

Slice the clove as thinly as possible to start.

Keeping the tip of the knife on the board and your hand on the top, rock the blade back and forth to mince the garlic as finely as possible.

Keep practicing and you'll get faster and faster.