Onion Rings

1. Preheat the oil in a large saucepan to 350 degrees. It’s important that you maintain the frying temperature at 350.
2. In one bowl put the buttermilk and in another bowl put the flour and spices.
3. Cut the onions into 1/2 inch slices and separate into rings.
4. In batches of five rings at a time, start by putting the rings into the flour mixture and then into the buttermilk mixture and then back into the flour mixture. If they are not fully coated then put them back into the buttermilk again and then back into the flour. When all the rings are coated then start frying in batches of 10 rings at a time. Fry the rings for about 4 minutes until they are golden brown. Drain the rings on a cooling rack or on some paper towels.

Tips:

1. Vidalia onions are a great choice or use a sweet onion.
2.  If you like really meaty rings then cut them up to 1 inch thick. If you like shoestring style rings then cut them 1/4 inch thick.
3. Make sure you really toss the rings in the flour mixture to coat the entire onion. That is why we only do five at a time.
4. This is really important. Do not be tempted to put a lot of rings into the oil at one time because this will lower the temperature of the oil and produce an oily ring.
5. If you are cooking a lot of rings then once one batch is done and drained you can put them on a rack in a 250F oven while you finish the rest. Then they will all be hot and crisp when you are ready to serve them.
6.  A kitchen tool called a spider is great for scooping up the rings from the hot oil.
7. Be sure to maintain the frying temperature at 350 degrees.

You’ll love these onion ring and remember tip #4 and tip #7 these are really important.

Daniel Mancini