Onion Rings

How can a simple yellow onion become a light and crispy golden ring?
I'll show you.

Ingredients: enough to feed 4-6 as a side dish or appetizer

• 2 large yellow onions
• 4 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne 
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp salt
• vegetable oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Peel onion and slice onions into 1/2 inch slices. 
2. Separate onions into rings. 
3. Peel away the thin skin from each ring. This step is important as it helps the very light batter to stick to the onion. 
4. Place in a glass 9x13 pan.
5. Whisk together buttermilk, eggs, onion powder and first amount of cayenne.
6. Pour buttermilk mixture over onions. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for several hours. 
7. Mix together remaining dry ingredients in a pie plate, making a dry coating mixture.
8. Take onions out of refrigerator. Drain the buttermilk and discard. Dredge wet onions 3-4 at a time in the dry coating mixture. Continue until all the onions have been coated. 
9. If you have a deep fryer fill with oil according to directions on fryer. Set it to 350º. If using a heavy dutch oven on the stove top add oil and heat over medium heat until oil is 350º. For this method it is best to use a deep fry thermometer to insure the oil is the right temperature. 
10. Carefully add 6-8 coated onions at a time to hot oil and cook for about 2-3 minutes. In a deep fryer you do not need to turn them. On the stove top you will need to use tongs to turn them once during cooking. 
11. Once golden crispy, remove to a pan lined with paper towel to absorb any extra oil. 
12. Salt lightly. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in a warm oven to keep hot until all the onion rings are done. 
13. Serve with dipping sauce. Recipe below.

Dipping sauce:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp hot sauce (optional) 

Stir together and allow to sit for at least an hour for flavours to meld.

Cutting rings and pulling off the onion membrane. Removing the membrane helps the batter to stick to the onion. This step  is a bit time consuming but well worth the effort.

All membranes removed. Onions are ready to soak in the buttermilk mixture. 

Here are the onion rings dredged in the light dry coating and ready for the deep fryer.
This batter is very thin and produces a light crispy onion ring.