Batter Up: Onion Rings
on Your Home Plate a Sure Fire Hit-From The Food Guy
Luring folks back to the
restaurant scene after the festive feasts of December is no small challenge,
but a sizzling NBA season, football playoffs, and of course, the Super Bowl,
can bring them all back for some fantastic appetizers and
deep fried dining. At the fragrant top of sports-fueled appetizers are piles of
crispy, battered circles of perfection better known as onion rings—a great way
to ring in the new year and ring up sales.
Circling back: Worship of the onion goes all the way back to the ancient
Egyptians, who believed that the rings and round shape represented eternal
life. The exact origins of the onion ring are unknown, but several different,
equally intriguing claims are made. A
recipe for French Fried Onions may have appeared in the Middletown Texas , takes credit for inventing the onion ring in 1929,
when one of their cooks accidentally dropped a ring of onion into a bowl of
batter, fished it out and instinctively plunged it into a nearby vat of hot
cooking oil. The battered onion ring became an instant hit and a permanent
addition to the Pig Stand menu. Crisco weighs in with a deep fried onion ring
recipe—dipped in milk then dredged in flour—that appeared in a 1933
advertisement in New York Times Magazine.
The first commercial manufacture of natural, raw, breaded onion rings is
claimed by Sam Quigley who started selling hand-cut rings out of his Nebraska
storefront in 1955, and in 1959, built a plant to handle the demand for his
"ready to serve" onion rings and in 1973 snagged Dairy Queen as one
of their best customers.
In the spotlight: Today, onion rings are still best sellers at Dairy
Queen, as well as Burger King, Chili’s, Nathan’s, A&W, and countless
numerous gourmet hamburger restaurants and steakhouses. But it was a modest
$2.75 bowl of onion rings at Holsten’s restaurant in New Jersey that was
proclaimed “best in the state” by Tony Soprano in the final episode of the “The
Sopranos.” While restaurant owners Stark
and Carley are thrilled with the ‘mobs’ that episode mention attracted, they’ve
toned down the hype. “They’re good,” Mr. Stark said in a recent New York Times article. “Do I believe
they’re the best in the state? Well, believe me; a lot of other restaurants
sell the same thing.”
Put a ring on it: June 22, National Onion Ring Day.
More popular than the Bieber? A quick search reveals - Yes, a Facebook Onion Ring page counted 2,152,536 fans to Justin
Bieber’s 1,648,758 fans.
Absolute Best Fried Vidalia Onion
Rings: Courtesy of some culinary
friends from across the country and the Food Network:
Several large Vidalia onions
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking
powder
1 egg, separated
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon Optimax oil
Peanut oil, for deep-frying
Slice onions into rings. In
one bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, beat egg
yolk, then stir in milk and vegetable oil. Combine wet and dry ingredients,
stir until smooth. In a third bowl, beat egg white until soft peaks form, and
then fold into the egg-flour mixture, stirring until smooth. Dip onion rings
into batter and deep fry until golden brown. Amazing!
