I've been cutting onions wrong for my whole career...

So I'm doing a big batch of French onion soup for a catering job in Portland, right? I'm crying my eyes out like usual, and my new prep cook just stops and stares. He says, 'Chef, why don't you use a sharper knife?' I'm holding my trusty old 8-inch chef's knife I've had for years. I tell him it is sharp. He asks to see it, runs his thumb along the edge, and just shakes his head. He grabs his own knife, a Misono UX10, and slices through an onion without a sound. No tears from him. The thing is, my knife was dull. I was basically crushing the onion cells instead of cutting them, releasing way more of the stuff that makes you cry. I'd just gotten used to the pain. Has anyone else had a basic tool wake-up call that changed your whole prep game?

4 comments

4 Comments

lindag332mo ago

Tell that to my old boss who refused to buy a decent can opener. We had this one rusty thing that mangled every lid, and he said it built character. Swear it added ten minutes to every shift just fighting with cans. A sharp knife is one thing, but having the right basic tool that actually WORKS changes everything.

jasonallen2mo ago

Had a teacher once who insisted on using chalkboards long after whiteboards were normal. Said the dust on your hands was a reminder of hard work. We'd spend half the class just trying to read his smeared writing. Guess some people just get attached to the struggle itself.

reed.elliot2mo ago

Building character sounds like his way of saying he was too cheap to spend eight bucks at the store. Bet he also thought the broken coffee maker taught patience. Nothing like bleeding on a jagged lid to really build that work ethic. Some bosses just love watching the world burn through rusty tools.

cora5181mo ago

Exactly what @reed.elliot said, it's a weird power trip disguised as a life lesson. You see it everywhere with people who value the grind over actual results.