Beer-Battered Onion Rings

By shygirl

Ingredients

• 2 Sweet onions, peeled and sliced into 1/2" think rounds
• 3 cups beer
• 2 teaspoons malt vinegar (see note)
• Salt and Pepper
• 2 quarts of peanut or vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup corn starch
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from cookscountry.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Soak onions: Place onion rounds, 2 cups beer, vinegar, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper in zip lock bag; refrigerate 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

2. Mske Batter Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium high heat to 350 deg. While oil is heating, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper in large bowl. Slowly whick in 3/4 cup beer until just combined (some lumps will remain). Whisk in remaining beer as needed, 1 tbsp at a time, until batter falls from whisk in steady stream and leaves faint trail across surface of batter.

3. Fry Rings Ajust oven rack to middoe position and heat oven to 200 deg. remove onions from refrigerator and pour off liquid. Pat onion rounds dry with paper towels and separate into rings. Transfer one-third portion of rings to batter. One at a time, carefully transfer battered rings to oil. Fry until rings are golden brown and crisp, about 5 minutes, flipping halfway through frying. Drain rings on paper towel-lined baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, and transfer to oven Return oil to 350 deg. and repeat with remaining onion rings and batter Serve
Baking powder yielded a coating that was thick and substantial, yet light, while cornstarch added crunch to the coating. Before frying our Beer-Battered Onion Rings, we soaked the onions in a mixture of beer, malt vinegar, and salt to soften them and build flavor.
BAD BATTERING: If the batter is too thick, the ring will be doughy; too thin and it will run off. Add beer gradually until the batter falls from a whisk to form a ribbon trail.
FUSED ONION RINGS: Don't crowd the pot- Fry the battered onion rings in small batches and transfer them one at a time to the hot oil so they don't stick together.

In step 1, do not soak the onion rounds longer than 2 hours or they will turn soft and become too saturated to crisp properly. Cider vinegar can be used in place of malt vinegar. Use a candy thermometer to make sure the oil gets to 350 degrees. Ordinary yellow onions will produce acceptable rings here.