Seriously. You’ll thank me later.
In Mexican cuisine, it is the raw white onion that rules the dish; the white onion that Mexico embraces above all other onions. It is bright, and crisp, and it is essential as a garnish for almost any/every dish.
But first, it has to be rinsed, or “deflamed”, desinflamando la cebolla, (des-in-flah-MAN-do la seh-BOY-yah). Slice, dice, mince your onion, then put it in a sieve, and rinse it under cold running water for about 15-20 seconds. Shake it off, and you’re done. No more tears, no more onion breath, nothing; just the crisp flavor of onion. Remember, you only need to do this if you are going to eat the onion raw.
Lately, I have been watching chef Rick Bayless on YT; for those of you that don’t know the name, he has several restaurants in the Chicago, IL area, and his videos are all about preparing delicious Mexican cuisine at home.
He shares his life between his Chicago home, and a Mexico City condominium, and has since the early 1980’s. Their condo, Bayless, and his wife Deann, is in the same “suburb” as ours, not far from where we live. Obviously a huge proponent of Mexican culture, and everything having to do with Mexico, it is a joy to watch him cook.
He teaches his viewers many of the meals that can be prepared, with ease, in the kitchen of ones own home, and also educates viewers on the origins of the recipe he is preparing. He has a vast knowledge of the different foods from all of the states here in Mexico, which is amazing.
Another favorite of mine, British chef Diana Kennedy, unlike Bayless, lived the majority of her life traveling throughout Mexico, after her husband passed away in 1967. She lived with, talked with, and learned all she could from the people in whatever puebla, village, town, or city in which she happened to be. She gathered hundreds, and hundreds of recipes from the locals she lived with, and wrote several cookbooks, giving each person their individual credit for the recipes kindly given her. She passed away just last year at the age of 99 years old, here in Mexico, in the city of Zitácuaro, about 2 1/2 hours to our West. What a loss.
Both have written numerous cookbooks about Mexican cuisine, and, as I indicated, Bayless has a YT channel that is addictive, if you like Mexican food, that is. But who doesn’t?
Back to the onions: when you cut an onion, white onions in particular, and want to put them into a dish, one that is not cooked, guacamole, for example, rinse them under cold running water for a few seconds to get rid of the sulfuric substance that slicing said onion creates. Add them to the dish, and you have the bright, clean, snappy flavor of the onion without the sulfur. Neat, huh?!
Try it. Let me know what you think.
Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.