Does it matter how you cut your onions before caramelizing them?

I always used to cut my onions horizontally so that they formed rings and then cut the rings in half. I recently saw a recipe that suggested that they be sliced from top to bottom in what is essentially a three-dimensional pie shape with each cut going form top to bottom with the point of the knife running down the center. Does anyone think it matters. I can tell any material difference except that I think I like the new way because the texture seems a bit better.

My chef daughter cuts top to bottom as does her chef fiance … seems the norm amongst the pro’s. Here’s an answer from Splendid Table saying cutting pole to pole leads to them holding their shape better:

Pole to pole slicing. Good description.

Are we scheduling an onion cutting offline? neener [wow.gif]

I’m in! I’ll bring lots of tissues. [dance-clap.gif]

I’ll bring Vidalias!


and a hardcopy of Onion Advocate
[snort.gif] [snort.gif]

I’ll bring my onion goggles!

ohhhh, that’s like the Durand for onionphiles. flirtysmile

Oh, I think I can supply the knives lol

Pole to pole is best if you want the onion pieces to hold up better; crossways, the onion breaks down quicker. For caramelized, I’d do the former, if I just want onion to be part of a sauce probably the latter.

As one would expect – Thomas Keller gives very exacting instructions, and explanations for why onions have to be cut in a certain way. For his French Onion Soup, he wants a long slow caramelization, cooking a giant pot of onions down to a bit of brown goo. And what he describes is what you have been calling “pole to pole”. He wants the slices all to have the same size and shape as much as possible so that some pieces don’t cook faster and maybe burn.