"Alan Gould" wrote in message
...
In article , Broadback
writes
Having just spent a boring 50 minutes with a paring knife and a
quart of
tears I wonder if anyone has any tips for preparing pickling
onions.
3lbs done and 3 to do. :-(

To prevent tears, peel the onions near to a running tap and peel
them
from the top downwards. Drop them into salted water while you do
the
others. That enhances their flavour, texture and keeping time.

I've always been a two-soak practitioner. Sounds like a waste of
time, and perhaps it is; but if you dump them into the first brine
without bothering to skin them, next day you can just squeeze off the
skins and nick off the tops and tails without so many tears. Hands
still stink, though!

If you want a _real_ waste of time, try Mrs Beeton's long-winded
simmer-in-milk version. I'll supply the recipe if you insist.

Mike.