Newspaper Page Text
Page 8B
LIFESTYLE The Champion, Thursday, April 21 - 27, 2016
Kniwini how ti slice, ceok your onions makes big difforenoe
by Sara Moulton
(AP) Back in the ‘80s and
‘90s, I used to work behind the
scenes with Julia Child during
her appearances on Good
Morning America. It was my job
to prepare the food she would
put before the cameras.
Once, when I knew in
advance that I couldn’t be
there for one of her upcoming
appearances, I invited a pal of
mine—a culinary professional—
to try out for the gig. We prepped
the food as usual, and at the end
of the day I thought my friend
had done a dandy job. Julia flatly
disagreed and said she wouldn’t
hire her. I was flabbergasted.
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because she sliced the
onions the wrong way,” Julia
replied.
Yikes! I simply hadn’t focused
on how my friend sliced the
onions. I didn’t think this detail
was that important. But all these
years later, I realize Julia was
right. Exactly how you slice an
onion makes a difference. So
does how you cook it.
Everyone knows that
chopping onions can literally
bring tears to your eyes. Here’s
why. When an onion’s cells are
ruptured, they give off pungent
sulfur fumes. The more roughly
an onion is treated—such
as when it is chopped with a
dull knife or pulsed in a food
processor—the more fumes it
gives off.
There are any number of
quaint folk remedies for this
problem. Put a piece of bread
in your mouth while you’re
chopping. Do your chopping
near a running faucet. And so
on. None of them works.
What does work—at least
when you’re chopping up a lot
of onions—is wearing onion
goggles. Modeled on welder’s
goggles, these babies prevent
the onion”s fumes from reaching
your eyes. But the best everyday
tactic is to chop or slice the
onion quickly and with a very
sharp knife. Chilling the onion
for an hour or two ahead of time
also is a good idea.
Having managed to blunt an
onion’s ability to bring you to
tears, let’s turn to the correct
way to slice one, a la Julia.
Lengthwise, not crosswise, is
the way to roll. Cutting an onion
in half through the root end
and then slicing it from stem to
stern stimulates far fewer sulfur
fumes. These lengthwise slices
also happen to hold together
much better than crosscut slices,
precisely because you’ve sliced
with the grain instead of against
it. This is especially important for
a dish like onion soup, when you
want the slices to maintain their
shape.
Finally, we come to how to
cook an onion, which affects not
just the flavor of the onion, but
of the whole dish. If you throw it
into a hot pan and quickly saute
it over high heat, the onion and
the dish it’s added to will be
bland. If you do it slowly over low
heat, you’ll maximize the onion’s
flavor.
All of these tips apply to
making my Alsatian onion
pie. The French call it tarte
flambee. The Germans call
it Flammkuchen. It strikes
me as more like a pizza than
anything else. I tasted it for the
first time on a river cruise in
France a couple years ago, and
I was really knocked out by its
combination of simplicity and big
flavor. Accompanied by a fresh
salad, this treat would make
the perfect light supper for the
beginning of spring.
Alsatian Onion Pie
Start to finish: one hour 15
minutes
Makes three 10- to 12-inch
pizzas
• 6 ounces bacon, thinly sliced
crosswise
• 4 cups thinly sliced yellow
onion
• Kosher salt and ground black
pepper
• 8 ounces creme fraiche
• 1 large egg yolk
• Pinch nutmeg
• 1 1/2-pound ball purchased
pizza dough, room temperature
• 3 ounces coarsely grated
Gruyere cheese
In a large skillet over medium,
cook the bacon, stirring, until
it starts to brown, five to eight
minutes. Transfer the bacon to
paper towels to drain and pour
off all but two tablespoons of
the fat from the skillet. Return
the skillet to medium heat and
add the onions. Cook, covered,
stirring occasionally, until very
soft, about 10 minutes. Remove
the cover and cook, stirring
occasionally, until golden, about
another 30 minutes. Season with
salt and pepper, then set aside.
Heat the oven to 500 F.
Arrange one of the oven racks
on the oven’s bottom shelf.
In a small bowl, stir together
the creme fraiche, egg yolk,
nutmeg and a pinch each of salt
and pepper.
Divide the dough into three
even pieces. On a lightly oiled
surface, roll out each piece into
a 10-by-12-inch rectangle about
1/8-inch thick. Transfer each to
a 15-by-17-inch sheet of kitchen
parchment. The dough may
shrink and lose its shape. If so,
roll it again on the parchment.
One at a time, transfer each
piece of parchment and dough
to a baking sheet (unless your
oven can fit two sheets on one
shelf, you’ll need to bake these
one at a time). Spread a third of
the creme fraiche mixture over
the piece of dough on the baking
sheet, then top with a third of
the onions and bacon. Sprinkle
with a third of the cheese, then
bake on the oven’s lower shelf
for 10 minutes, or until the crust
is crisp. Repeat with remaining
dough and toppings. Serve right
away.
Nutrition information per
half pizza: 640 calories; 310
calories from fat (48 percent
of total calories); 35 g fat (16
g saturated; 0 g trans fats);
120 mg cholesterol; 1260 mg
sodium; 60 g carbohydrate; 4 g
fiber; 6 g sugar; 17 g protein.