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Onions are definitely tough for me.

I also refuse to measure spices, especially when baking. I'd much rather spice it to my own preference and not someone else's. And I add cinnamon to pretty much everything!

I halve an onion, peel, then chop, leaving the root end intact. I'll never forget Ann Altman in cooking school saying, "An easy way to remember this is the root end is your friend."

BTW, I wash mushrooms. They grow on rotted logs. Nuff said.

I can also crack an egg one handed but I only do it if I'm in a big rush. I separate an egg by cracking it, dropping the shell in the sink and using my hand to "strain" out the white. There is no chance of the yolk getting pierced and if you knew what was on the outside of egg shells, you would make sure the inner part doesn't touch the outer part.

I like Alton Brown's onion chopping technique. Starts the same- halve and peel, keep root intact. Instead of horizontal and vertical cuts before chopping, it's radial cuts. Much faster.

LoCo, I do the same thing as you with onions and eggs, for the same reasons. I also wash mushrooms. Alton Brown did a whole thing about how they don't really soak up much anyway, so that's suits me fine. I also salt my dry beans in the beginning of cooking because I found that it didn't adversely affect the texture, and they are perfectly seasoned by the time they're done. I don't like to totally follow recipes either. I'd rather play with it a little and the times that I do follow it exactly (against my instincts) I don't like it as much because it was to their taste, not mine. Funny.

Okay, I'm going to sound like a complete idiot, but I had no idea what radial chopping of an onion meant. I hunted for for, like, an hour trying to find a description of exactly what it is that Alton Brown does. I found a description here link">radial slicing, for those of you reading who may be in the dark as much as I was.

Thing is, well, I learned from Jaques Pepin, but modified it to make it a bit easier and more efficient for me. And you know what? I've been doing it forever. The radial thing. I had no idea I was so cool.

And like srhcb, I am incapable of curling my fingers in while chopping. I feel a loss of control, and goodness knows, I've tried.

Well, I use my food processor as much as I can when cooking for large crowds, but just everyday meals....I just do it manually. Garlic? take the clove unpeeled, and bash it with the flat side of my big chopping knife - pick out the peel easily, then a few chops and it's done! Onions I peel, then slice, stack and just chop. One thing I am guilty of is not really measuring when following recipes. I tend to use my hand to measure the spices - my gramma did it that way, and it works well. When it's a brand new dish and I'm making it for company, then I will follow the recipe, but adjust after tasting. Usually, more of something is always needed!

Another thing I like is the Pampered Chef chopper! Especially when I am mad or just had a long day....I beat on the top of the chopper to get those onions or cilantro chopped nicely, and work out my aggressions!

another of the curling while chopping disabled here. I also use two hands to crack eggs, and i'm with mongoose i've always washed my eggs, even before they hit the fridge, also wash mushrooms even though the growing medium is sterile nowadays, i personally dont know who's handled them.
now though i'm going to have to try the pampered chef chopper, i'm onion chopping challenged.

FYI, the word "proper" is in quotations primarily to demonstrate my disdain for the term. I say, if it works for you, it's proper. Sometimes, sticking to the way you've always done it is safer and quicker, too. If the "proper" way offers no improvement, why go through the learning curve, right?

What about techniques you've learned or mastered that made you go, "Wow! Wish I'd known that before!" I remember when I bought and learned to use a chef's knife many, many years ago. It literally changed my life. And, I'm a relative newcomer to the chiffonade. No idea how I missed it over so many years of cooking shows and cookbooks! It was a true revelation.

Agreed, one-handed eggs are largely about showmanship. But there are times when it's helpful, and I still won't, even though I'm quite capable (as long as the eggs aren't brown). You'd be amazed how often I'm asked by on-lookers why I don't do eggs one-handed! The implication being, "You do everything pro-style, why not eggs?"

The whole "rotate from the wrist, and not the shoulder" whisking thing? I still can't get the hang of it. I played piano for over ten years. I have very stiff wrists. So I do it the wrong way. As far as I can tell, my lemon curd hasn't suffered from it.

cucinacecilia, I have a really tough time with the pan flip. Invariably what was once in the pan is now all over the cooktop. My big excuse is that my pans are too heavy. (Allclad) What is the easiest food to practice with? Say, an omelet? I don't attempt to flip pancakes because I use a griddle.
The proper onion slicing is such a great skill to learn - once you force yourself, you can just fly. I still catch myself, however, not curling my fingers back often enough with other chopping duties. Surprisingly, the bloody lessons taught me by my Wusthof knives didn't even happen when doing that job!
I'm not sure if this is correct or not - but I peel my veggies peeler towards me. That is the way mom always did it and how I learned. My husband peels away from his veg and when I see chefs on TV that is usually how I see them do it. Is there a proper chef way? I always seem to get done much faster than he does and it seems there are less veg juice spatters in doing it my way.

frederika: I used to have new line cooks practice flipping by taking some dry bowtie pasta, coloring one side with a marker, and telling them to flip away until they could get most of the colored side up in one flip. I think they mastered it quickly just so they could stop turning the pasta back to the uncolored side by hand over and over!
Seriously, just put some croutons or something in there and practice

The onions are a great idea for practice. With chicken breast, watch for the oil, butter etc. I burnt my hand with lard yesterday flipping a pinto beancake. For a step up after the onions, try using cubed potatoes. With so many in the pan you are less likely to get burnt, and they are cheap and easy to retrieve if they start flying out of the pan. Then move up to a veggie saute. I like the ramp idea, and that is probably what to look for when choosing a pan to use. The perpendicular sides of a heavy saute pan do not work, which is probably the shape of your Allclad. It definitely is a handy technique, especially when you are doing 3 things at once at the stove, so keep practicing!

LoCo - I cannot stop giggling - cause I know exactly where all the beans are going to end up. But I'm going to practice that tomorrow until I get tired of bending over to pick beans up off the floor. I'm thinking it's a good time to not have a dog in the house!
I do have the All-Clad large saute pan but also have the sloped sided 10" pan, so I will try to employ all the techniques you guys have suggested and see where I can take my frustration level. Thank you so much for your valuable insights.