In article >,
Andy Katz > wrote:

> I'm not happy with the results of standard breading on onion rings. I
> used pure egg whites, one whole egg, a bit of cream to thicken and
> some Tabasco for flavor. I used Wondra flour and store-bought seasoned
> breadcrumbs.
>
> After applying the breading I let them sit about 30 minutes before
> immersing them in 350 degree oil.
>
> All of the breading stayed on about one quarter. About half lost half
> their breading, and the final quarter lost nearly all of their
> breading.
>
> I breaded half the onion rings the normal way, using one pass. I took
> the rest and, after letting them sit for a minute or two, re-immersed
> them in the egg and applied more breadcrumbs.
>
> Didn't seem to make much difference.
>
> How can I improve their ability to retain the breading?

Andy, when I worked in a neighborhood seafood restaurant, we used to
make our own onion rings from scratch. I made tons of those things
during the time I worked there. Our technique was simple. We took a big
bin and filled it with water, then added some milk to the water and some
eggs. I forget how much, but not enough to do anything more then cloud
the water a bit.

We sliced those big white onions and separated them into individual
rounds. Then we dumped the whole thing (about five pounds of onions at a
time) in the water, let them soak briefly, then we dumped them into a
big bin of regular old flour. Then we took the individual rings and
dipped them just a few at a time very quickly in the egg wash. Then we
dumped them into a big bin of course corn meal and we pressed the corn
meal onto the rings, but not hard enough to break the rings. We then
laid out the rings on a tray in a single layer and we waited a minimum
of 15 minutes before we deep fried them.

They came out perfect every time!