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I'm a Tony fan, I have Kitchen Confidential and His, Les Halles cookbook. Tony is a ass, he knows he's one, you and I know he's one--so why so surprised he mentioned R.R? I cook from scratch too, always have even as a single mom.

Personally I think pre-chopped onions or diced garlic taste odd, ...and odd is not good flavor. They put preservatives on those things and they alter the flavor.

Tony is a classically trained chef so he expects his peers or people who impersonate his peers to cut up the onion all by themselves. Simple as that. He's not going to rag the home cook, with kids underfoot. Okay he might...but he's going for the jugular on some of these tvcooks.

Pony, try cooking somethings on the weekend like a chicken or roasting some vegtables for a dish you'll use later on, so that you can cook more easily on the weekdays. I'm sorry but I'm having a hard time getting past that your husband "INSIST" at a 7 p.m. meal. I say tell him to help, and it would be easier on you.

I guess I forgot to mention that I have a husband who insists on eating by 7 p.m. If I get home at 6:30, that leaves me half an hour. Cooking a meal that takes an hour or more is totally out of the question. Any few minutes I can shave off by having onions prechopped helps and I really don't taste the difference once they're cooked (now if I'm making a salad or something, that's a different question). I feel virtuous just in that I get a home cooked dinner (albeit one with frozen onions in it) on the table. So many of my coworkers look at me like I'm insane when I mention that the family sits down to dinner together every night. I could make my 7 p.m. deadline by bringing home pizza or burgers but where's the joy (or nutrition) in that?

So, I gotta ask, on the scale of horrid food things, what is worse ... warthog rectum or pre-chopped onions?

i, too, cook almost every night, have a 40+ hour job, and still manage to chop, dice, peel and brunoise my own veggies. the more you do it, the faster you get at it. it probably takes an extra 3 minutes to cut veggies.

Hi PonyFla,
I'm raising my hand, as I fit the qualifications you required in your first paragraph (cook *almost* every day, full-time job, don't buy the pre-cut stuff...). I find the process of cooking a good, slow meal from scratch at the end of my full-time work schedule to be the one of the most rewarding, relaxing and satisfying uses of my evening. Doesn't mean I do it every night. If I'm just to tired to cook, then I'll go to a restaurant, but that doesn't happen often (can't afford it). If I don't keep chopped onions in the fridge, then I have to chop one!

Besides, I learned that three-step onion-dicing trick, and it's shaved many a' hour and tear off my dinner making ritual! ;-)