fire (supposedly catalyzes some reaction that
prevents lachrymators from forming—it doesn’t
work unless you are cutting your onion directly over
or under the flame). Rinse the onion as you go
(works OK, but wet hands and sharp knives don’t
mix). Place a piece of bread on the cutting board
(does absolutely nothing). Suck on an ice cube or
chew a toothpick (I can’t even begin to fathom the
rationale). Chill the onions in ice water for 10
minutes first (this works pretty well—the cold slows
down enzymatic reactions). But of all the cures,
there’s only one that’s really effective: just block
your eyes. If you’re a contact lens wearer, you’ve
probably already noticed that onions don’t really
bother you. For the rest of you, ski goggles or
swimming goggles are the way to go. Plus, they
make you look really cool. Trust me.
Q: Is there any way to get rid of that onion odor?
Let’s say you happen to have some extra-pungent
onions (it happens to the best of us)—is there a way
to tame them? I tried out a few different methods,
from submerging them in cold water for times
ranging from 10 minutes to 2 hours to chilling them
to letting them air out on the counter.
Soaking the sliced onions in a container of cold
water just led to onion-scented liquid in the
container, without much of a decrease in the aroma
in the onions themselves. Perhaps if I’d used an
unreasonably small amount of onion in an