Onion ring

Onion ring

Basket of onion rings
Type	Entree, main dish, snack dish
Course	Hors d'oeuvre
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Main ingredients	Onions, batter or bread crumbs
Media: Onion ring

Onion rings (also called French-fried onion rings) ^[1] is a form of British and American cuisine. They generally consist of a cross-sectional "ring" of onion dipped in batter or bread crumbs and then deep fried; a variant is made with onion paste. While typically served as a side dish, onion rings are often eaten by themselves.

Onion strings are a variant where the onion is cut vertically first, resulting in strips rather than circles. ^[2]

History

The earliest recipe for onion rings dates back to 1802, when British food writer John Mollard published The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined. It called for cutting onions into slices, dipping them into a batter including Parmesan cheese, and deep-frying them in lard. The recipe also suggested serving them with a sauce of melted butter and mustard. ^[3]

Many recipes for deep-fried onion slices or rings are found starting in the early 20th century. There are various processes:

• no coating: 1902, ^[4] 1907; ^[5]
• dipped in milk or egg and coated in flour: 1902, ^[6] 1908, ^[7] 1909, ^[8] 1910, ^[9] 1916; ^[10]
• battered: 1919, ^[11] 1922; ^[12]
• breaded: 1914. ^[13]

• 
  Onion ringlets
• 
  Onion rings with dip sauce (Philippines)

Food chemistry

The cooking process decomposes propanethial oxide in the onion into the sweet-smelling and tasting in bispropenyl disulfide, responsible for the slightly sweet taste of onion rings. ^[14]

See also

• Food portal

• Blooming onion – a whole onion that is cut into a flower shape that fans out
• Fried onions
• Funyuns – an onion-flavored, corn-based snack food, shaped like onion rings
• List of deep-fried foods
• List of hors d'oeuvre
• List of onion dishes

References

1. "French Fried Onion Rings", The Big Apple, February 11, 2007
2. Berkowitz, Roger; Doerfer, Jane (13 May 2003). The New Legal Sea Foods Cookbook: 200 Fresh, Simple, and Delicious Recipes from Appetizers to Desserts. Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed. p. 259. ISBN   978-0-7679-0691-3.
3. Mollard, John (1802). The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined (second ed.). p. 152.
4. Rorer, Sarah Tyson (1902). "Fried Onions". Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book. Philadelphia: Arnold and Company. p. 404.
5. Freshel, Mrs Maud Russell Lorraine Sharpe (1907). The Golden Rule Cook Book: Six Hundred Recipes for Meatless Dishes. Little, Brown. p. 125.
6. "Recipes from Public Demonstrations: French Fried Onions". The Boston Cooking School Magazine. Vol. 6, no. 9. January 1916. p. 468.
7. Fort Wayne (Indiana) Sentinel, 20 June 1908, p. 15 col 3, cited in Barry Popik, "The Big Apple", February 11, 2007, https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/french_fried_onion_rings/
8. Beeton, Isabella (1909). "German and Austrian Cookery: 3710.―Wiener Steaks". Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management (New ed.). London: Ward, Lock & Company. p. 1549.
9. Middletown (New York) Daily Times, quoted in The Big Apple , 11 February 2007.
10. "Queries and Answers: Fried Onion Rings". American Cookery; Formerly the Boston Cooking-school Magazine. Vol. 20, no. 6. January 1916. p. 468.
11. Stevenson Memorial Cook Book. Sarah Hackett Stevenson Memorial Lodging House Association. 1919.
12. Yeager, Albert Franklin; Schalk, Arthur Frederick; Bolley, Henry Luke; Waldron, Lawrence Root; Stevens, Orin Alva; Webster, Robert Lorenzo; Stoa, Theodore Ellinson (1922). North Dakota Pure Seed Law: Interpretations and Suggestions. Agricultural Experiment Station, North Dakota Agricultural College.
13. Harris, Ethel Longley (1914). Wholesome Cooking, a Practical Book for a Practical Cook: Two Hundred Well-tested Recipes. Rand, McNally. p. 53.
14. Schwarcz, Joe. "Why do onions make you cry when you cut them? And why are they sweet when you fry them?". McGill Office for Science and Society. Retrieved 2 August 2022.

External links

• Media related to Batter fried onion rings at Wikimedia Commons