Onions

Cut onions with a particularly sharp knife to reduce "crying." This effect is caused by the sulphur in the onions reacting with eye moisture to produce (very weak) sulphuric acid that the body washes away with tears. The less you tear the membranes of the onion, the less sulphur gets into the air. Wearing glasses, sunglasses, or safety goggles can also help by limiting the sulphur fumes' access to your eyes. For big projects or extra protection for sensitive eyes, invest in a good pair of swimming goggles, sized for adults. If anyone laughs, invite them to take over the chopping.

To tone down the pungency of an onion, soak it in ice water for half an hour before using it.

To peel pearls onions, drop them into boiling water for about 30 seconds, then into cold water. Trim the root end and squeeze the onion toward the stem and it will pop free.

Many believe leftover onion -- not used the same day it's cut -- will attract and collect germs. There's some scientific evidence to support the idea, so consider chopping up the whole onion and freezing what you don't use right away -- or even chopping and freezing several onions at once. It can be very convenient to have a stash of chopped onion all ready to toss into the soup kettle or frying pan.

I'm told this chop-and-freeze technique works with celery as well, also just for cooking. It'll lose its crispness but not its flavor.

Gelatin and friends

Gelatin is made of collagen, mostly from the tendons, connective tissues, and bones of mammals. Powdered gelatin is the most familiar, but leaf gelatin is gaining popularity. Five sheets of leaf gelatin are equivalent to a tablespoon, or one packet, of powdered gelatin. To use it, soften the sheets in cold water for 1-2 min before adding them to whatever liquid you're cooking them in, then heating that liquid until the gelatin melts.

Agar-agar is the vegan (and pareve) alternative, made from algae. Powered agar is usually designed to replace gelatin one-for-one, but in most cases you'll need to use more flake or bar agar than gelatin.

There's also isinglass (not to be confused with muscovite, a kind of mica that's also called isinglass but isn't edible). Isinglass is a kind of gelatin made from fish swim bladders and is used primarily in brewing.

More links:
Some health aspects of agar-agar

More about isinglass

Saffron

If you're using saffron primarily for its golden color rather than flavor, you can cut costs by using turmeric or even plain yellow food coloring. If you want the proper taste, though, stick with the real thing and avoid the grocery store. Not only can a specialty shop or website (Buck's and Penzey's both have good reputations) save you a lot of money, their saffron will be much fresher.

Although some sources recommend lightly roasting saffron for more flavor, the traditional method is to soak it in some of whatever liquid you're using in the dish you're making, ideally warm or hot, for a few minutes before adding both saffron and liquid to the dish.

Saffron grows as a beautiful fall crocus that will actually do quite well in our climate, given a sunny spot and very well-drained soil -- and reasonable safety from wildlife (a generous sprinkle of chili powder will keep the squirrels from eating all the bulbs). The harvest is a bit labor-intensive but not particularly difficult once you figure out which little bit of flower you're looking for.

The WSU Extension has a very nice .pdf about growing saffron, written pretty much with Eastern Washington in mind but still useful for those of us on "The Wet Side." To download it, find the "Miscellaneous" section at the bottom of their listing for Benton and Franklin Counties and click "Grow your own saffron."

Hey, vendors! I'd love to see locally-grown saffron at the market, even just briefly and in limited amounts. I wonder if it could be sold as whole flowers to make things easier, kind of like shelling peas...

Paella recipe (but I'd leave out the chorizo, especially since they don't say which kind, and peel the tomatoes)

Measurements

Measurements vary from country to country Many places not only use metric but weigh the ingredients rather than measuring by volume. The good news is that many recipes are forgiving enough that the difference won't matter, or can be corrected by adding a little flour or liquid until it feels right (a phrase I normally despise, but there we are).

You can find conversion sites online, and there are also apps for tablets and, probably, phones. The trick is figuring out whether that "cup" the recipe calls for is US or metric, that tablespoon US or imperial. If the recipe calls for you to weigh things you're used to measuring, like flour or sugar, it's probably European of some kind (get a good-quality kitchen scale that does grams as well as ounces if you're going to try many of these). The publisher's location is also a good guide, if you can determine that, but watch out for books that are written in the UK (or Australia) and published in the US without editing.

By the way, what Americans call "corn starch" the English call "corn flour." I'll be posting a sort of mini-glossary later this winter, but thought you might want to know about that detail now, if you're playing with international recipes.