Saturday, June 25, 2011

Onion Rings

For very special occasions when I was growing up (e.g. the Fourth of July), my mom would make what I still consider the most delicious onion rings in the whole world.  They showed up on our table no more than a half-dozen times, but they're the stuff of family legend.  For my dad's birthday dinner, he requested a repeat appearance of these mythical fried onions, so I did my best to recreate my mom's recipe.

Basically, this is a fritter dough rather than the traditional onion-ring coating.  It keeps the onions from drying out and has a little more heft.

In any case, I know that Dani Cooks has been heavy on the baking recently, so here's a recipe that uses a whole different skill set (deep frying) for an all-American classic.



You'll need:

One large onion, Vidalia or similar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vegetable oil
About 1 1/2 - 2 cups vegetable oil, for deep frying

Slice onions into 1/4" rings.  Set aside.

Beat the two eggs together in a medium mixing bowl, then add milk.

Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined.  Beat in 1 tsp. vegetable oil.

Meanwhile, pour vegetable oil to a depth of about 3/4" inch in a deep-sided pan.  Heat to about 375 degrees.  You can check the temperature by tossing a bread crumb into the oil—If it sizzles, then you're ready to go.

Dip each onion ring into the fritter batter, placing into the hot oil immediately.  Fry each side for approximately 30 seconds, or until the batter turns crunchy and golden.  Here's a photo of my setup:



Batter and raw onion rings on the far left, hot oil in the middle, plate with paper towels for draining on the right.

Use tongs to flip and remove onion rings from the oil.  Drain on a paper towel after removal.

If you need to keep the onion rings warm, heat your oven to about 200 degrees F, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place the onion rings in the oven.  This will keep them from getting cold and soggy as you're preparing the rest of the dinner, but won't continue cooking them or cause them to burn.

Happy eating!

3 comments:

  1. That sounds delicious -- and deceptively simple. What do you recommend for dipping? Or would that be blasphemous?

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  2. Thanks, Karl! Personally, I'm an onion ring purist, but I bet they would be good with 1000 Island dressing or, according to one friend, buckets and buckets of ketchup.

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  3. If you really want you can substitute baklava for these onion rings on your next return trip.

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