Michael "Dog3" Lonergan wrote:
> Stan Horwitz > news:stan-
> :
>
> <snip onion ring technique for space>
>
> > They came out perfect every time!
>
> I'm now wondering if the soaking had anything to do with it. Hmmm...
Probably the fact it was a commercial deep fryer. Typical home deep
fryers can barely hold temperature with small quantites and most folks
overload them, especially with onion rings which are like 98% water
which tends to cool down the oil substantially. Whether breading sets
up well enough to stick when deep frying is very dependant on correct
oil temperature at the onset and that it's maintained throughout the
cooking process. If at the onset the oil cools too much the oil
penetrates too deeply and the breading absorbs too much oil, becomes
heavy and falls off in chunks. To successfully make deep fried breaded
onion rings at home make only a small quantity at a time... and slice
the rings thickly (1/2"), with lots of thinly sliced rings there'll be
too much surface area introduced into the oil at once which will also
tend to lower temperature. Unless one has a quality deep fryer with a
rather large capacity (at least a gallon) it really doesn't pay to
attempt onion rings at home... unless all you want to make is like one
very small portion at a time. With onion rings the oil should be
rather hot (375ºF).
Sheldon Vidalia