On Sun, 17 Sep 2006 01:40:01 -0400, Stan Horwitz >
wrote:

>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!

Thanks very much, Stan. I was beginning to wonder if there even was a
commercially viable method for providing fresh, breaded onion rings.

Are you saying you immersed them twice in the same liquid: "the water"
= "the egg wash"?

Andy Katz
"Modesty is in thought, not clothing."

Joel Shurkin

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