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Is the problem explained in text anywhere? (TFA delegates to a video and afaict only discusses another video-suggested solution and a novel solution in text, I

• ruds 2y ago
  You would like to slice (half) an onion in a way that minimizes the variance in volume of the pieces. The problem is then simplified to slicing half an onion in a way that minimizes the variance in cross-sectional area of the pieces at the widest part of the onion.
• ska 2y ago
  The problem is how to get roughly equal sized pieces from cutting an onion. If you cut towards the center the inner pieces are much smaller than the outer.
• sampo 2y ago
  > Is the problem explained in text anywhere? Not very well. There are some snippets: "to keep the pieces as similar as possible" "The Jacobian r dr dθ gives a measure of how big the infinitely small pieces are relative to each other" "The variance is a good measure of the uniformity of the pieces."
• ipsento606 2y ago
  > Is the problem explained in text anywhere the problem is that you want to cut up an onion in such a way as to minimize variation in the size and shape of the cut-up pieces usually, so that the pieces will cook evenly
  • dylan604 2y ago
    meh, the food processor usually handles that for me pretty damn well
    • marssaxman 2y ago
      You are clearly not the target audience.
    • sleepybrett 2y ago
      yes, atomization is certainly one strategy, though often people enjoy onions that are not a slurry.
      • dylan604 2y ago
        i think you are confusing a food processor and a blender. a food processor has other attachments/blades that do not result in a puree.
        • tptacek 2y ago
          No, but they do beat the shit out of the onion. The bigger thing though is that they're a pain; you have to clean it out when you're done (also: have it handy on your counter to begin with), as opposed to just wiping down your knife, which you're already using for other things. I don't do much with my food processor anymore besides grating cheese; even biscuit dough I'll do with a box grater at this point, just to avoid having to clean out the food processor.
          • sleepybrett 2y ago
            I've had a food processor for maybe 20 years.. I use it at most twice a year specifically because it's a pain in the fucking ass to clean. Though thanksgiving is when I always bring it out, one bag of cranberries, one whole orange (quartered before throwing it in the food processor, peel and all), and sugar.. run it until you get a nice chunky relish.. deeeelish.
          • thaumasiotes 2y ago
            We clean our food processor in the dishwasher. :-/ If you have to clean things by hand, I'd take the awkward inside of a smooth plastic cylinder over a grater any day.
• dfxm12 2y ago
  The problem is "I have an onion that is spherical with even layers. How do I cut it into pieces with equal volume?" It's more of a geometry thought experiment than a practical epicurean "problem".