Tom's Morningside Shallow-Fried Onion Rings
Sides, Soups & Salads
If you've ever found salvation at a fluorescent-lit diner counter at 2:00 a.m., staring down a bottomless cup of coffee, you know the magic of a real onion ring. It isn't the heavy, jagged, panko-crusted aberration of modern gastropubs. The authentic diner ring—perfected by the Greek-American short-order masters of the Northeast—has a slightly puffy, downy batter that shatters when you bite it, giving way to a meltingly sweet onion that actually stays inside its casing. Out in the wild, these are plunged into a fifty-pound commercial deep-fryer. In your kitchen, your trusty cast-iron skillet does the heavy lifting. Cast iron holds onto heat tenaciously; it takes the punch of cold, wet batter without dropping the oil's temperature, guaranteeing a perfect, grease-free fry every time.
Ingredients
- sweet onions2 large
- all-purpose flour1/2 cup
- all-purpose flour1 cup
- cornstarch1/4 cup
- baking powder1 tbsp
- seasoned salt1 1/2 tsp
- garlic powder1/2 tsp
- smoked paprika1/2 tsp
- buttermilk1 cup
- egg1 large
- club soda2 tbsp
- vegetable oil3 cup
- kosher saltas needed
Method
- 01
Toss the separated onion rings in a half-cup of plain flour until lightly dusted, shaking off the excess.
Do not skip this dry dredge. It acts as a desiccant, creating a dry surface that binds the slippery onion to the wet batter so it won't slide right out of its crust on the first bite.
- 02
Whisk the dry batter ingredients together in a medium bowl.
Combine the remaining one cup of flour, cornstarch, baking powder, seasoned salt, garlic powder, and smoked paprika.
- 03
Incorporate the wet ingredients and let the batter rest.
Beat the egg into the cold buttermilk, pour it into the dry mixture, and whisk gently until it resembles thick pancake batter, adding a splash of club soda if it feels too dense. Let it sit for ten minutes to hydrate the starches and allow the baking powder to start working.
- 04
Heat at least one inch of oil in a large cast-iron skillet.
Place over medium-high heat until the oil hits 375°F. If you don't have a thermometer, drop a cube of white bread into the oil; if it turns golden brown in exactly forty-five seconds, you are ready to fry.
- 05
Batter and fry the onions in small batches.
Dip a floured ring into the rested batter, let the excess drip off for two seconds, and carefully lower it into the hot oil. Drop in four to six rings at a time, being careful not to crowd the skillet and drop the oil temperature.
- 06
Fry until deep golden brown, then transfer to a wire rack and salt immediately.
Fry for about two minutes per side until shatteringly crisp. Hit them with a shower of kosher salt the second they leave the oil while the surface is still glistening so the salt sticks.
- 07
Scrape the oil clean between batches.
Use a metal spider or slotted spoon to scoop out any loose bits of fried batter. If left in the cast-iron skillet, they will burn and impart a bitter, acrid taste to your remaining rings.
Notes
Save your scraps.
Keep the tiny inner rings of the sweet onions in an airtight container in the fridge. They belong in tomorrow morning's hash browns.
From Cook Diner Food at Home.