Super Food for the Super Bowl - Onion Rings

What is your favorite part of the Super Bowl?
The football?
The commercials?
The halftime show?
Or the food?

We are pretty healthy eaters, but when it comes to the Super Bowl...it's all about the junk food.

This year we are having sliders, coleslaw, guacamole, salsa, tortilla chips and onion rings.

We kind of sort of have a love affair with onion rings.

We do have a love affair with onion rings. 

Making them is actually quite simple and economical.
This is a great non-recipe cooking method.
The board of ingredients is pretty simple stuff.

• Canola Oil
• Milk - I am using skim
• Corn Starch
• Flour
• Sweet Onions
• Salt

Start by slicing your onions. 

I used medium sized onions and got about eight slices per onion.

I would slice them however you want.

Thick, thin or in between is fine for this recipe.

Separate the rings from each slice.

Hold the slice of onion over the bowl and start with the small middle ring.

The rings fall apart very easily if you start in the middle.....I discovered that on the last slice.

Add milk to the bowl of onion rings.

You don't need to cover the onions with milk just add enough to get the rings wet.

Now, let's make the crunchy coating.

Start with corn starch in a bowl.
I am using one and a half cups of corn starch.

Add the flour...
I am using a half cup of flour because we like crunchy onion rings.
If you wanted softer rings, use less starch and more flour.

...and salt.

Can you see the tiny patch of salt on the flour?

I don't suppose these are the most thrilling pictures I have ever posted.

Anyway, give it all a stir with a whisk.

This is the dredging station that I set up for myself.

I will be working from right to left.

I'll use my right hand to pick up wet rings and I'll drop them into the bowl of corn starch and flour.

I'll use my left hand to shake the bowl, coat the rings, shake them off and move them to the cooling rack.

The cooling rack will hold the rings, but allow any excess flour mixture to fall away.

Here are some wet rings in the starch mixture.

I shook the rings over the bowl of starch.  

When I dropped them onto the rack, even more starch fell off.

We just saved that starch from burning on the bottom of the pan of oil. 

When you get all the rings coated, give the rack a few shakes to get rid of any more starch.
Now here is the secret...walk away from the onion rings.
Don't even think about frying these guys until the coating dries.
I love doing the messy part of the recipe ahead of time.

Dump the left over starch in the garbage and rinse the bowl out with water right away.

The longer the starch dries in the liquid dribbles, the harder it will be to clean the bowl.

Down the drain with the onion flavored milk...unless you want to use it for something else.
It might be sort of good in corn bread...or something.

About an hour later...

I am going to fry the onion rings in this pan.

That funny scooper is called a spider.

Spiders are the perfect scooper for fishing fried things out of hot oil.

I love those wrinkle lines the oil gets when it is heating up.

Heat your oil over medium heat.  

I am using roughly two cups of oil.

Do not put onions in the oil until it has reached 350 degrees.

That is a happy onion ring.

That is exactly the bubble action you want to see when you drop a ring into the oil.

If you don't see those bubbles it means your oil is too cool.

If you fry something in cool oil, you will get a greasy product.  

Hot oil is important.

Fry just a few rings at a time until they are golden brown-ish.
If you put too many rings in the pan, it will cool the oil down and you will get greasy rings.

Let them drain on a paper towel and sprinkle them with a bit of salt while they are still hot.

They look sooo good.

They are crunchy, onion-y, and yummy.

Enjoy!

For more Willow Cottage football food ideas check out:

Tailgating with Nachos

and

Super Bowl 2011

I am linking to Foody Friday at Rattlebridge Farm {Designs by Gollum}.