Mr. Lake's New Orleans Forum

Do you slice onions against the grain or pole to pole?
I read that slicing against the grain results in cooked onions with a lifeless, stringy texture. Onions that are cut pole to pole maintain their shape during a long cooking process.

Against the grain so that in the end the onions disappear in the beans or gumbo, etc.

That's how I was taught by an old Cajun cook from Church Point when I worked offshore as a cook's helper (galley hand) and janitor.

"Dem onyawn, dey gonna turn to nuttin'." And they did. And they still do.

I think I'll try slicing them pole to pole as it were next time I'm just slicing them. On the other hand, if you're dicing them aren't you already doing it both ways?

Cut the onion in half through the poles, then flat side down - pole toward and away - into crescents (think Crescent City). Clear enough?

http://www.kitchendaily.com/2010/03/15/ ... en-basics/

This man's got it right. I've done it this way since my mother taught me. Exactly like the video.