Real Fried Onion Rings

This is one American classic I thought I'd never try to do at home. At the Platonic Diner in the Sky (Home of the "Pie in the Sky" and other ideals-you know the one) these are prepared perfectly and an optional side to every suitable main dish. There, the batter is crisp, brown and light, the onions soft and not the least stringy, but not mushy either. The rings are round, distinct, and never stuck together; they are lightly, but definitely salted, after frying. These perfect rings are well drained and blotted, hot, and served almost instantly after they are done. They are properly made by a gifted fry cook, and are not the sort of thing one makes at home.

It is clearly a messy process, and a last minute pain in the butt- a side dish no-no in my book. Further, they excude wickedness. I like to eat wicked food out, rather than at home, so that there is no evidence around to inhibit the denial process.

Don't get me wrong, I don't really think any good food is actually wicked, except in the most delightful sense. There are just things that I have a harder time resisting than others, and they are more likely to lead to gluttony and regrets. So, I don't eat, say, potato chips at home, as I can't keep a partly eaten bag around. I'll eat them anywhere else though- so don't hesitate to offer, please.

The problem which has developed here, far from the Platonic Diner, is that halfway decent onion rings are getting harder to find. I, like many of my friends and associates, am more than willing to eat halfway decent onion rings. When someone brings in a little tray of them, at lunch, with take-out food, we all (especially yours truly) fall upon them like beasts. But they are less and less good, and harder and harder to find downtown. I find this disappointing-and I don't want to become bitter.

What really made me decide to try them though, was a recipe in the Barefoot Contessa at Home, a gift cookbook which I would not, myself, have bought. I have nothing against Ina Garten. Indeed, from watching her on television, I can see that she is a good cook, and that her recipes work. The thing is, she doesn't really tell me anything I don't already know, or fix things I haven't made before. Possibly it is just that we are pretty similar cooks in a lot of ways, though she obviously knows a lot about catering, and I certainly don't.

The other reason I have avoided her books is just well, strange. Several people-including people who have no idea that I ever made a pot of soup, have told me that I look a whole lot like her. It's not that I think she looks you know, unpleasant, or anything like that. I just truly don't see it myself, though-except that the hair is similar. But I guess there's something in it, coming as it does from so many independent sources. The one that really weirded me out was a person at work who , who said he came upon his wife watching Ms. G on tv, and exclaimed, "My god, [Lindy] has a cooking show!" I mean, he claims he actually thought it was me. I don't know why this is a little creepy, but it is.

I looked through the cookbook, and found the food commonsensical. The photos look good and appealing, and I'd be surprised if they weren't both well tested and well within the abilities of a reasonably adept home cook. And there was a recipe for real onion rings in there. So, I thought I'd try them, you know, just for me, and see if 1) they are reasonably do-able, and 2) if it seems possible to make them while getting a (compatable) dinner of some sort on the table.

I cut her recipe in half, as this was to be a sample, and took her advice about using a deep pot, insead of a frying pan, to avoid oily havoc. This is the test batch I made of Ina Garten's cornmeal-fried onions. You need:

a large spanish onion
buttermilk- 1 cup
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
all purpose flour 3/4 cup
1/8 cup of medium yellow cornmeal
tsp hot hungarian paprika (you can leave this out if you like- my addition-I like some paprika in my cornmeal coating)
2-3 cups vegetable oil

Peel the onion and slice it 1/2" thick, and separate it carefully into rings. Put the butter milk in a smallish bowl, add salt and pepper, and soak the onion rings in the mix for awhile- preferably an hour or two. In another smallish bowl, mix the flour and cornmeal, and add some salt and pepper, and the paprika if you use it . When you are ready to go-preheat the oven to 200F. (Right away- you're not finishing something else in any 200F oven, so the rest of the dinner had better be top of the stove stuff.) Line a baking sheet with paper towels.

Now, stick a candy thermometer in a dutch oven or similar deep sturdy pot, add the oil and heat to 350F. Have some tongs and the baking sheet at hand, as well as the 2 bowls and a dish of coarse salt. Take about 1/3 of the onion rings out of the buttermilk, dredge in the flour (you can do this with one of your clean hands-keep the other, preferably the dominant hand, dry for tong wrangling), and drop gently in the oil. Fry for about 2 minutes, turning once with the tongs. Extract with tongs, and lay out on the paper towel cover pan. Sprinkle with salt.Check the temperature, adjust the heat accordingly, and do the rest in 2 batches.These guys will stay warm and crisp for 30 minutes while you frantically get the rest of dinner ready.

They are ridiculously good- crisp, tasty and breeze-light, for heaven's sake. You must handle them carefully once they are fried, for they will shatter into shards if you don't. Wow. I've got to figure out a meal that I can make with them, so I can share them, and be adored. So what do you think? Maybe a pan-grilled buffalo burger (my current favorite of all hamburgers) on a homemade bun, and some slaw? Not very original, but then onion rings kind of go with red meat to me, from diner associations, I suppose. I think the slaw may be mandatory. Or maybe a big poofy omelet and sauteed mushrooms? They're awfully pretty, IMO, and not such an alarming project after all.. Any ideas for the rest of the Dinner with Onion Rings? If someone served me some real onion rings with my dinner, I'd be pretty grateful. I'm just saying.

P.S. Yes, of course I ate them. Too many. I'll make them only for company in the future. Not as if this debacle was unpredictable. And BTW, hearburn did not ensue.

Comments

[Lynn D.]

We used to have a tradition of making fried onion rings when the Walla Walla Sweets first came in season. We used a beer batter and I really cannot imagine anything better. Perhaps you will need to make another batch for comparative purposes. Why not just fry up some fish with the same coating? I think that would be divine with coleslaw and root beer floats for dessert.

[zp]

Ha. Benj and I were at Little Pete's in Philadelphia and we got their Reubens and Benj went so far as to order rings with it and although I had remembered every nuance of their sweet and sour Reuben I'd forgotten about the rings until that moment and when I ate them I forgot to expect such unadulterated pure pleasure. Crumbly type batter, thicker rather than thin, but the onion itself was divine, oh, divine.

I must have had some good rings 'round here or I'd have missed them more. Now, where were they? And rings are good dipped in beer if the batter isn't already beer batter . . .

[Tanna]

You took the words right out of my mouth along with the onion rings. The only problem with that is that I could never have writen anything that well. This has got to be one of the best writen and funnist things I've read in a long time. Gad, I really do love onion rings more than french fries. I do not think I need any more reasons to buy a deep fat fryer but my doctor keeps telling me no, just eat more oatmeal.

[Heath]

Mmmm! Now I'm going to have to make some!

How about serving them with a nice thick rare charcoal-grilled ribeye and a gorgeous salad? Sort of like a steak frites, but better - and it would be easy, timing-wise, as the salad could be made ahead and the steak wouldn't require much attention on the grill (and you can always delegate outdoor grilling duty to some willing dinner guest, as I do, while you finish up the onion rings - I'd certainly be willing to work for THAT dinner!)

[Rebecca]

Heath took the words out of my mouth - a perfectly grilled steak, and this freakishly warm weather we've been having this winter lends itself to outdoor grilling.

I've always loved onion rings, too, and can't remember the last time I had good ones. Maybe at this hot dog place in New Jersey my husband took us on a pilgramage to, called Rutt's Hut; I think they were pretty good there although probably just shaken out of a freezer bag.

[Rebecca]

Um, I meant "pilgrimage" - I knew that word looked funny!

[lindy]

I like both the fish and the steak ideas.(Lynn-the Walla Walla tradition is an excellent one, and clearly should be revived.) In the meantime, zp, if you think of any good onion rings on offer anywhere in Pittsburgh...please let me know, because I'll be there in a flash.

[Julie]

If it were me there would be no meal built around the onion rings. The onion rings would be it! I would want nothing to distract from them.

And I never see onion rings on any menu except for that of chain restaurants and on those occasions when I have tasted them I've always been disappointed -- the onion rings all seem to have a gummy coating and leave a weird aftertaste.

I think the only way to get good onion rings (ones that are crisp and breeze-light -- I love that description!) is to make them yourself.

[Anita]

A great way to welcome the New Year. Just the post after I finished writing about Crispy Cabbage pakoras! I couldn't but think of onion rings about that time!

[lobstersquad]

brave. a true benefactor. I love people who fry for company, they are generous and deserve many medals.
happy new year!

[Kimberly]

If I had to choose only one fried side dish to eat for the rest of my life (the desert island side dish, as it were), I would choose onion rings. (Okra would be a close second.) One of my late, lamented favorite restaurants in Seattle served gorgeous onion rings with a pulled pork barbecue sandwich and cole slaw. Perfect.

Now I'm hungry.

[redfox (lindy's daughter)]

M & F got a little electric deep-fryer as a wedding present, and the onion ring recipe that came with it -- a beer batter -- is delicious. Of course you can only fry about 4 rings at a time in the fryer, but it's still worth it. Mmmmm.

[zp]

I thought you looked like Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Not that we know, really, what she looks like. But when I mentally researched my mental image of you, I found that it corresponded to the mental image I've always had of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. You know, the one with the mixed up files?

[zp]

On further reflection, my mental image was based, I think, on the very much copyright protected illustrations by Konigsburg - not available through Google. I wonder if it's the macaroni and cheese episode, from the book, that somehow linked the two of you in my mind?