Start With Your Own Onion

When a recipe calls for a whole chopped onion, most of us start by cutting through the top and root sections, removing the layers of paper-thin skin, then inspecting for any skanky layers or black sooty mould that can sometimes lie in the inner layers. The waste is discarded without much thought. I have a memory of my grandmother standing over me, inspecting the detritus and making sure I wasn't being a 'wasteful chef'. Our lives, like the onions we use, can be dissected layer by layer, and sort