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Myself I love onion rings ... that crunchy seasoned batter exterior with that luscious moist onion center.
Every bite is near perfection as that is the way its designed ... a perfect blend / ratio of batter to onion in each bite.
Seems to be such a simple recipe and process as they are just being dropped into boiling oil then removed in a short period of time. Nearly every restaurant has them on the menu. Onions are typically very plentiful and a very cheap produce for the restaurant to buy ( so no excuse to not have perfect fresh onions around )
Why is it that its so common for them to be served in a fashion that is lacking ? Seriously ... it seems that I hardly order them ever as I almost expect them to be messed up.
Over cooked - under cooked - too much batter - not enough batter - skin improperly removed (stringy vs snappy ) and so on and so on ...
Then most places want to charge you MORE for substituting onion rings for French fries ? I mean c'mon - its not as if I switched from a hamburger to a NY steak.
Then there is always the obvious shortage. HELLOOOOOOOOO !! we are not fooled for a moment when our order of onion rings consists of 4-5 rings on the side of the plate. They do not stack up the same as French fries do laying side by side. Where your portion seems fair. The rings lay on top of one another in a stacked / non concentric way which makes 4-5 onion rings take up nearly 1/2 the plate. yet you are getting so very few, yet you paid MORE to receive them ? What a total racket for the restaurant.
I would be OK paying the extra cost if I were guaranteed to always be getting a pretty good product. Seems to be 20% chance getting served great tasting and nicely prepared onion rings at all the local places that I have tried out thru the years. That's bad odds. And makes me lean towards skipping the rings and opting for the FF's
Are they really that difficult an item for the restaurant owner to prepare ??
I know many of the wonderfully cooked and seasoned rings I have been served have been previously frozen then jammed into hot oil and cooked that way. I am fine with that - as long as the end product is a properly cooked onion ring.
FYI - I personally have never tried making onion rings at home.
just curious about others thoughts here ... many great foodie minds in this forum
Last edited by StrkAliteN; 11-01-2017 at 09:35 AM..
I like fish. You know the hardest fish dish to find done right? Fish and chips. Either the place can fry things or not. I don't know what the explanation is for places with fries that can't manage an onion ring.
I know frying anything at home is a PitA. You need a big enough vessel to fry enough to make it worthwhile or you'll be standing over hot splattering fat all day. Clean-up is awful, and batter is difficult. It's also something you have to practice at to get it to stick to the food you want it on and you need temperature management to get the food inside to cook properly without burning the batter outside. Long John Silver's used to have onion straws and I always thought I would try them at home since they're simpler, closer to fries than onion rings.
If you don't mind frozen, try a good brand like Alexia (I haven't, so can't vouch for them, but won't vouch for other brands I have tried) and put them in the oven.
There is only one place in town that does great onion rings, they offer bread or hand beer battered onion rings, they are perfection.
When we lived in San Francisco, there was an English pub that did the best fish & chips. You could see them batter the fish to order, no frozen filets.
I have tried to make onion rings at home, but I will not try again
the best onion rings I ate are not the fat, thick onion rings, usually frozen and reheated. I watched them make them. These are thin strings rings that are first dipped in milk, then smeared with flour by dropping in a big tray of seasoned flour, then dropped into oil. Delicious. Have never come across them again although I keep searching.
We've made them at home in the past (when we got a deep fryer) and found that it was far too labor intensive (and messy!) and considering the cost of the oil, it was far more practical to get them at restaurants. Our bars that we frequent all make wonderful rings - as does the pizza place we order from.
As for our deep fryer? That was a gadget my husband just HAD to have. It has a long and storied history that nobody cares about - let's just say that right now, it's been stored in a drawer for eons and will most likely stay there. But God as my Witness, when we move, IT DOESN'T GO WITH!
Myself I love onion rings ... that crunchy seasoned batter exterior with that luscious moist onion center.
Every bite is near perfection as that is the way its designed ... a perfect blend / ratio of batter to onion in each bite.
Seems to be such a simple recipe and process as they are just being dropped into boiling oil then removed in a short period of time. Nearly every restaurant has them on the menu. Onions are typically very plentiful and a very cheap produce for the restaurant to buy ( so no excuse to not have perfect fresh onions around )
Why is it that its so common for them to be served in a fashion that is lacking ? Seriously ... it seems that I hardly order them ever as I almost expect them to be messed up.
Over cooked - under cooked - too much batter - not enough batter - skin improperly removed (stringy vs snappy ) and so on and so on ...
Then most places want to charge you MORE for substituting onion rings for French fries ? I mean c'mon - its not as if I switched from a hamburger to a NY steak.
Then there is always the obvious shortage. HELLOOOOOOOOO !! we are not fooled for a moment when our order of onion rings consists of 4-5 rings on the side of the plate. They do not stack up the same as French fries do laying side by side. Where your portion seems fair. The rings lay on top of one another in a stacked / non concentric way which makes 4-5 onion rings take up nearly 1/2 the plate. yet you are getting so very few, yet you paid MORE to receive them ? What a total racket for the restaurant.
I would be OK paying the extra cost if I were guaranteed to always be getting a pretty good product. Seems to be 20% chance getting served great tasting and nicely prepared onion rings at all the local places that I have tried out thru the years. That's bad odds. And makes me lean towards skipping the rings and opting for the FF's
Are they really that difficult an item for the restaurant owner to prepare ??
I know many of the wonderfully cooked and seasoned rings I have been served have been previously frozen then jammed into hot oil and cooked that way. I am fine with that - as long as the end product is a properly cooked onion ring.
FYI - I personally have never tried making onion rings at home.
just curious about others thoughts here ... many great foodie minds in this forum
10x more difficult than a french fry especially when done right. Much more labor involved.
the best onion rings I ate are not the fat, thick onion rings, usually frozen and reheated. I watched them make them. These are thin strings rings that are first dipped in milk, then smeared with flour by dropping in a big tray of seasoned flour, then dropped into oil. Delicious. Have never come across them again although I keep searching.
I tend to prefer this style also - The actual made from scratch ones may actually be fresher, but unless it is an expert prep and perfect batter and precision timing ... the end result is usually sub par.
I think the best ones are the medium sized - not too skinny and not too fat. I think maybe the fact the batter is frozen allows for more time in the fryer to achieve doneness, which I think that extra crispy exterior batter is the best. Love that bite / crunch vs taking a bite of a large fresher ring that the entire onion pulls away from the batter shell due to the onion being mushy ( cant bite thru a mushy onion cleanly in 1 bite )
Quote:
Originally Posted by ralphfr
10x more difficult than a french fry especially when done right. Much more labor involved.
I think you are going out on a stretch there. Even for home made / hand cut rings dipped in batter ( of course the batter is premade )
yea I get how fries will be dumped straight from a bag into the oil directly. Frozen rings would be the EXACT same process.
Yea fresh battered is maybe twice - 3x the extra work.
I have made them at home, no problem. No need for deep frying, put some oil in a pan, turn the rings over when halfway done. A lot of the "rings" you get in restaurants are not complete onion rings, they are ring shaped with little pieces of chopped onion in them. Not much flavor compared to a real onion ring.
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