During my time at the CIA, I was fortunate to compete on a Culinary Olympic team. We competed in Weimer, Germany and were very successful. Although there was very little time for seeing sights, I did get to visit the museum of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, enjoy amazing local sausages & get a wreath of onions during the Weimar Onion Festival. My godmother proudly hung the wreath in her home for years...

   Cooking with Onions

I recently saw a video of a guy planting a the top of a 'used' onion... after about 5 months the onion scrap had grown into a beautiful, whole onion. I'm not sure I'll be growing onions in my garden but I'm very aware of the popularity of onions in so many dishes.

When CIA students begin the curriculum, they spend weeks becoming competent in peeling and slicing onions, chopping onions, mincing shallots etc...  and find the sliced and chopped onions are used in many, many global recipes.

When I worked in R&D for Campbell, I visited onion farms in different parts of the country to learn about sweet onions, different sizes of onions, etc...  to improve some of the soups.


I hear a variety of stories about how to cut an onion without your eyes tearing...   goggles is one of the funniest!

Any chef knows the importance of keeping your knives sharp, and that seems to solve the 'onion eyes' problems.



Paring & Cutting Onions

Prep Time: 5 min

Cooking Time: 0 min

Yield: 1 portion


Ingredients                                          

1  ea           Onion


How to Prepare Sliced & Diced Onions






Place the onion on it's side, on a clean cutting board.







Using a sharp chef's knife, cut each end off (about 1/4 of an inch) and discard.







Using a paring knife, peel all of the skin off and discard. Wipe the cutting board of any soil, skin etc.. (onions grow under the ground and are sometimes dirty)





Using a sharp chef's knife, cut the onion in half, the core and ends should be on the top and bottom when you cut.

If you want onion rings, cut the onion in half with the core and top on left and right.







To slice the onion, lay one half down flat and slice with the grain from end to end, slightly having the blade of your knife at an angle so each slice is the same. Repeat.




To dice the onion, lay one half down, make 2 or 4 slices parallel to the top and bottom-you will hold the onion flat by putting the palm of your (non cutting) hand on top to hold the onion flat and making the slices with your other hand.





Next make even cuts down from the stem side to the core side but do not cut all of the way-the core holds the onion together so make the cuts about 80% of the way, but cutting down through the onion to the bottom.







Now make even cuts down, across the grain where the previous cuts are, to get diced, onion pieces. Cut carefully to the end.








If the onions look uneven, make several chops with the knife to get the size you need.

Chicken Sauté, Fines Herbs & Champagne Cream

By Tom Griffiths • May 13, 2026
As chefs, we spend years mastering sauté work. I remember my early days working the sauté station for lunch in a French restaurant in NYC. We served over one hundred guests in an hour-and the food was excellent — a dozen hot pans on the flat top, stocks simmering, mise en place of freshly chopped herbs, minced shallots, butter for mounting into sauces à la minute. There is rhythm to good sauté cooking. You learn quickly that great sauté work is not about rushing — it is about organization and control .

Beyond Sweet Basil: An Herb with History, Health, and Global Range

By Tom Griffiths • April 23, 2026
Beyond Sweet Basil: An Herb with History, Health, and Global Range 

Dessert; Italian Wheat Pie

By Tom Griffiths • April 11, 2026
Our Easter and Christmas meals were feasts... my mother's family all met at Aunt Flora's home in Jersey City to enjoy and celebrate the holidays. Dinner began with platters of fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers, olives, Italian bread, then a pasta course (manicotti or lasagna for the religious holidays), a roast or sausages with plenty of vegetables and traditional Italian desserts with dark coffee.We ate Italian Easter Wheat Pie one day each year—and it was never store-bought. My Aunts brought Easter cookies and baked goods-the wheat pie was my favorite. I loved the slight 'bite' of the wheat and flavors of cinnamon, vanilla and citrus. My father sometimes let me have a sip of his espresso with the dessert. I'm not sure if my mother used lard for the pie crust-she was a fan of butter and Crisco but the crust was always flaky.

Roast Leg of Lamb

By Tom Griffiths • April 8, 2026
There are certain dishes that stay with you—not just for their flavor, but for what they represent. For me, roasting a leg of lamb over Pommes boulangère is one of those meals. I don't recall having lamb at any occasions growing up so this was a dish that I proudly introduced to our family. As a young cook, it was something I could prepare with limited experience, and it provided deeply satisfying results. The lamb roasts in the oven over a bed of potatoes, onions, and garlic, allowing its natural juices and fat to baste the vegetables below. It's actually a simple preparation but becomes a complete, delicious meal—the potatoes absorbing flavor and becoming just as important as the roast itself. These days I'm developing delicious recipes using spice blends such as Ras el hanout, Baharat, Za'atar, Togarashi and even Harissa. I also love roasting leg of lamb outdoors on a grill or rotisserie. I like the subtle smokiness from applewood or dried herbs when I'm roasting lamb outdoors.

Potatoes Boulangère

By Tom Griffiths • April 8, 2026
There are certain dishes that stay with you—not just for their flavor, but for what they represent. For me, Pommes boulangère is one of those dishes. As a young cook, it was a delicious meal I could prepare for my family with my limited culinary experience. I often return to this preparation when roasting whole chicken, pork, or lamb—letting the potatoes, onions, and garlic absorb the natural juices from the protein as it cooks. The potatoes becomes more than a side dish; it’s the foundation of the meal.

Holiday Au Graten Potatoes

By Tom Griffiths • April 7, 2026
There are countless versions of Potatoes au gratin , many of them heavy with cheese. I prefer a more restrained approach—using little or no cheese—so the flavor of the potatoes remains the focus rather than being masked. Milk produces a lighter, more delicate gratin, while light or heavy cream creates a richer, more structured dish. Both are valid—it simply depends on the desired outcome. One constant, however, is nutmeg. Used sparingly, it acts as a quiet “secret weapon,” adding depth without calling attention to itself. This recipe is inspired by Xavier LeRoux, one of the finest chefs I’ve had the privilege to work with. His method includes an extra step—gently simmering the potatoes in cream before baking—which yields a noticeably superior result. The potatoes begin to release their starch into the cream early, ensuring a more uniform texture and a fully integrated dish from the first bite to the last.

My favorite Brownies

By Tom Griffiths • March 19, 2026
There are plenty of brownie recipes—and then there is the one that lives in memory. This is the only brownie recipe I bake, from Julia Child, whose influence reached far beyond French cuisine and into the home kitchens of passionate bakers like my mother. A devoted admirer, she baked these brownies often—usually for the dessert trolley at my restaurant. We featured a brownie freeze... brownie cubes with homemade vanilla ice cream, warm melted chocolate and freshly whipped cream-amazing! For me, this recipe is more than a classic—it’s a reflection of how great cooking is passed down: through admiration, repetition, and a deep love of craft.

Curing Salmon fillet

By Tom Griffiths • March 19, 2026
I taught garde manager for many years at the CIA and this is one of my favorite recipes from class. I actually developed this recipe with one of my students, inspired by a recipe he had learned on his externship.

Dessert; Irish Soda Breadd

By Tom Griffiths • March 17, 2026
We ate Irish soda bread one day each year—and it was never store-bought. Soda bread wasn’t part of our cultural lineage, but it earned its place through something more universal: respect for tradition. My mother was not an occasional baker— growing up, her baking centered on Italian traditions: special Christmas cookies, the Vigna family birthday cake, and beautifully braided Easter breads that reflected heritage. Later, like many serious home bakers of her generation, she was influenced by Julia Child . That influence expanded her repertoire into classic European pastry—Paris-Brest, pound cakes, even German chocolate cake. The iconic cross cut into the top of the loaf is often said to “let the fairies out,” though in professional kitchens we recognize its functional role: allowing heat to penetrate and the loaf to expand evenly during baking.

Authentic Guacamole, Hospitality, and the Responsibility of Feeding People

By Tom Griffiths • February 26, 2026
Authentic Guacamole, Hospitality, and the Responsibility of Feeding People