> otherwise you cut through too many cell boundaries and let the water out too fast That really doesn't make any sense. If you slice across the grain, you migh

> otherwise you cut through too many cell boundaries and let the water out too fast That really doesn't make any sense. If you slice across the grain, you might slice through more vascular tissue than if you sliced lengthwise, but onions aren't highly vascularized. Furthermore, the cells are linked with plasmodesmata in all directions. No matter how you slice them, water is going to leak out at about the same rate. I would be a little suspicious that slicing with the grain would do anything. It sounds like one of those cooking rules of thumb that don't have any basis in fact. ...on the other hand, maybe Cooks Illustrated or someone else has done a controlled experiment and there really is a difference.