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Brain Food: How do I stop my eyes from watering when I chop my onions?

Richard Cornish
Richard Cornish

A sight for weeping eyes.
A sight for weeping eyes.123rf

How do I stop my eyes from watering when I chop my onions? – P. Jenkins

I once worked with a chef who was adamant that if you kept changing the shape of your mouth when chopping onions they would not make you cry. Unfortunately it was an open kitchen and when he was doing his prep it looked like he was chewing on a wasp sandwich.

The reason onions go from inert globe in the pantry to tear-inducing kitchen assailant is that enzymes and natural compounds in the onion cells, normally kept separate, react with each other to form sulfenic acid. This is unstable so it rearranges itself into Syn-propanethial-S-oxide. The eyes don't like this, and so release tears.

Scuba mask or swim goggles will block the compound but are uncomfortable and slightly Daliesque. It is airborne so you can try to keep it out of the eyes by blowing it away with a strong fan directed at the face. Slightly Bee Geesesque. This chemical reaction is slowed down at lower temperatures, so chilling an onion for several hours or so before cutting it reduces the effect on the eyes.

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Potato: don't cut it, break it.
Potato: don't cut it, break it.Supplied

My mum used to make lovely fish and potato stew that was thickened with the potatoes. I can't seem to make it the same. – L. Milne

I was taught to make the wonderful Scottish soup Cullen Skink by a North Sea fisherman. It's a pottage of smoked haddock, milk, onion and potato and perfect with whisky, according to the fisherman. He also thought that breakfast porridge was perfectly matched with a few whiskies, as well as trips to the supermarket.

He didn't slice or cube the potatoes; instead he inserted the knife a third of the way into the potato, somewhere near the end, and used the blade to break off a haggard wedge. This method causes a lot more surface area of the potato to be exposed and allows more starch to enter the liquid.

As the dish cooks the starch soaks up water, swells and causes the soup or stew to thicken. Try it next time you make a soup or even a potato salad.

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Photo: Tim Grey

Why do some shops refrigerate their anchovies? – B. Phelps

Because they are good. When a small, family owned manufacturer on the Bay of Biscay or Galician coasts goes to the trouble of carefully cleaning, curing, hand packing, canning and packaging a tin of anchovies you want to make sure they are looked after.

Anchovies are not heat treated like other food you buy in tins. They are cured under brine for about eight months then hand filleted and packed in tins. They are not pasteurised. These high-quality, high-cost anchovies have a rosy colour and a meaty, rather than fishy, flavour.

If they are exposed to high temperatures or constant temperature differentiations then their delicate flesh will age faster, leading to deterioration of quality. Kept in the fridge they last longer.

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Richard CornishRichard Cornish writes about food, drinks and producers for Good Food.

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