Simon: Raymond whirls into the kitchen of Brasserie Blanc, Oxford, and doesn't stop moving or talking for the next hour, a small ball of obsessive perfectionism. “Don't be a chef,” he says. “It's a crazy life, always jumping from one place to another.” And as if to demonstrate, he jumps around the kitchen and from subject to subject for the next hour, telling me and the kitchen staff about Maman Blanc's wisdom, his travels in Japan . . . With a bit of gentle channelling, he gets to the onion chopping tuition - the importance of having at least one good (expensive) knife, and to always look at the structure of the onion before cutting. Always start cutting from the root end, but don't cut the root area itself - that way, the layers won't fall away as you cut. By taking care with the preparatory cuts, I find the final chopping easy. And I don't cut my hands this way either.
What a difference a day makes: how to chop onions - Times Online