No onion tears for Miss Lori thanks to Chicago Cutlery DesignPro knives.

I learned a lesson recently that brought me to tears. Well actually it didn’t bring me to tears and that was what was so amazing. Last month I had the great fortune to attend a Chicago Cutlery event. We cooked an amazing meal. It was ridiculously delicious.

But it didn’t get that way on it’s own. My fellow fabulous blogger friends and I whipped it up together under the tutelage of the great chefs at The Chopping Block.

One of the reasons I am so reluctant in the kitchen is because I don’t have any innate cooking instincts. And I definitely don’t know little tricks that can make cooking easier. My parents cook, but I never paid attention to their preparation when I was a kid, I just reaped the benefits of their hard work. (Ungrateful child I was. LOL) What I learned at the event is that 75% of cooking is preparation. The prep can make or break you. To prepare for this meal we had to slice, dice and julienne.

Did you know that it is possible to cut an onion without crying? Yeah, neither did I, but it is true. There is a simple technique. All you need is an onion and a knife. But as I learned in the Chopping Block Kitchen, not just any knife will do. It’s got to be razor sharp so that your cuts can be smooth and quick. Lucky for us we were using just such knives to prepare our meal. The Chicago Cutlery DesignPro knives. We worked with three gorgeous knives with Japanese steel blades. And I do mean gorgeous. They are sleek, hefty and fit perfectly in your hand.

One thing that makes these knives so special is the fact they are a single unit, not a blade stuck in a shaft. And the shape, well the knives feels as though it they were designed especially for me. Yes me, the reluctant chef. Hard to believe but it’s true. The grip is designed to help us “get a grip” in the kitchen. And my children will tell you I definitely need to do that. But I did. I got a grip. A firm gip on an onion no less.

We started by cutting the onion in half, right dow the middle. Then we set one half, flat side down, on the cutting board and sliced off an end. Next we made a slice through the skin from top to bottom and removed the skin to the first ring. (Still no tears.) All peeled naked and minus an end we started the no more tears magic. Using the razor sharp DesignPro knife I sliced into and through the onion, but the trick to the trick is to not cut through the intact end.

By not cutting through the end all the way you keep the onion together and spray less juice. By having a razor sharp knife like the DesignPro line from Chicago Cutlery doing the cuts you don’t spray any juice. Even me, the reluctant chef.

That was the hard work. Now the easy part is, keeping your guiding fingers curled and holding onto the intact end of the onion, make cross cuts quickly and succinctly. And Voila!

You want to try now don’t you? I get it, and you can. The DesignPro line is available open stock on Amazon and the product includes a Full Lifetime Warranty!