Kitchen Tips

Flavoring with spices

Heat oil to medium in a pan, then add spices and toast them for half a minute before adding wet ingredients. This will infuse the oil with the flavor of the spices, which will help ensure every bite is flavorful since oil sits on the outside of the food. Great for cumin, caraway seeds, coriander, star anise, cardamom, etc.

Slice, dice, or mince an onion

I slice both ends off a whole onion; halve longitudinally; remove skins, surgically slicing more of ends if necessary; put each half face down. Then...

1. If slicing, cut latitudinally, always with a slicing motion, using knuckles of opposite hand as a guide, never raising blade more than millimeters above the onion so as not to slice knuckles.
2. If dicing, cut a few slices longitudinally, holding onion-half together, then cut a few slices latitudinally, following safety guidelines above.
3. If mincing, follow dicing directions but with more closely spaced slices, then continue mincing pieces until their as small as you desire.

Also See

How to season, use, and clean cast-iron cookware