In a lot of dishes they don’t really ruin it or anything (though I pick around them when possible, sometimes leaving just a pile of onion bits on the plate at the end)… so I wonder, why are they there? They’re not really adding anything, either.

I don’t like garlic, either, unlike Mark. In western-style food, the only things I dislike to the point of avoiding at all costs are garlic, vinegar, shellfish, and ketchup – and I can detect even trace amounts of any of these ingredients, and they ruin the dish for me (like many people when it comes to cilantro). Onions I avoid too, but I can’t be too picky since they are in so many different things and in moderation they are tolerable.

cut off both ends, split axially, peel, slice horizontally, spin 90 degrees and slice vertically

This is exactly what I do, since my mother taught me many years ago.

Is there any real reason to use a big 10″ knife for chopping onions? I find it much easier to use a slim 4″ knife.

Not so convinced as to reasoning re: self-servicing,  though… do you dry-clean your wool coats yourself? Fix your own car? Or for that matter, perform your own dental and optometry checkups?

As Flugfrei mentions, you can’t chuck ‘em around or bash them like you can with metal, so if you need tools that can take a ton of abuse, it’s not for you. That said, if you treat it appropriately (no cracking it against metal surfaces, trying to cut thru bone, twisting while it’s stuck in something, etc), they are phenomenal.

I’ve had mine for over 5 years, I cook with it almost daily, and have sent it out to be sharpened once in that time. (Though it is getting time to send it out again.)

Nope, you do it that way so they cook evenly.  So some are not cooked and some raw when you serve the dish.

http://youtu.be/D9Qzz8R_J1c

What I do is chop off the head, halve it, chop off the tail, skin it, cut each half 3 times across the grain, then make three cuts with the grain, angled towards the centre.

Lots of lovely assorted size chunks, that separate easily. And it takes much less time and effort than this PRO-TIP! method. If some chunks end up slightly more cooked than others, this is generally a good thing since it adds more flavours and textures.

And cilantro is American for fresh corriander. You learn something new everyday. Normally I dislike American terms (egg-plant, WTF? And don’t get me started on ‘erbs).  But I think the English language could use a separate word for the seed (which most people like) and the leaves (which is an aquired taste).

The set of five knives (paring, cook’s, cleaver, bread, and meat) plus the steel, cost me about $98 when I bought them thirty-five years ago.  I was just beginning to cook for myself; it was one of my first purchases.  

I’m so glad I made the ‘foolish’ decision to get a proper set of kitchens tools.

Psychosomatic?

She was cremated.

And then theres this fine little animation : http://youtu.be/yV_dzvA_INU

if you whack your cutting board or torque them at the wrong time, they’ll chip like glass. like glass, you do not want ceramic chips in your food.

a lot of restaurants will not allow people to use them.

on top of that, you can’t sharpen them. as far as i’m concerned, a tool you can’t service is a tool that you don’t own.

my point here is: when that carrot breaks, you are no longer controlling the knife, you are just along for the ride. any dense vegetable is going to do the same thing. onions are especially tricky because the juices tend to grab-and-release randomly, so the smoother the cut, the better off you are. not to mention the precision of your cut, which can be a big sticking point in a professional kitchen.

i have a henckels too, wouldn’t do without it for dealing with bones, frozen stuff, etc. but when it comes to bulk veggie prep, there is no comparison. 

i am not a shun fanboy mind you, i don’t have a shun santoku myself.. but i will argue that in certain situations japanese steel is going to outperform german steel hands down, just because of the geometry of the blades.

after chef-ing in various capacities for the last ~12 years, i’d add that the majority of professionals that i know, (including myself) use mostly japanese knives for prep work such as this. the big ol’ wedge of a wusthof in the pic above is probably what spawned this technique in the first place to prevent wedging in dense veggies.. not a problem when your blade is twice as sharp and a quarter the thickness. (i use a kikuichi santoku for veg prep, but a kobayashi or shun is a cheaper alternative)

if i could only have one of any knife in the kitchen it would be a vg-10 santoku.

http://ihatecilantro.com/

 Some people, myself included, are cilantro super-tasters.  For us, even a hint of cilantro will overpower and ruin an otherwise fine dish.