Keeping onion ring crispy

Mitch@... said:

I'm having guests tonight, and I was going to make onion rings in the
deep fryer.

Are there any tricks to keeping them warm and crispy until all the
batches are done?

Try not to pile them too high, which traps the steam. You want
the steam to dissipate into the air, not build up on the food.
I spread them out on a half sheet, piled not too high, then
leave them in a warm oven. If there are several sheets worth
I jam the oven door open with a wooden spoon to keep a
good airflow.

Another trick is to cook them 75% of the way through ahead,
as much as a day before, bag them and fridge them. The day
of you only need to cook them a very short time to finish
them. This means they don't have to sit around nearly as
long post cook, plus it has the benefit of reducing your
workload on game day.

Good luck.

--
Reg

<Mitch@...> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm having guests tonight, and I was going to make onion rings in the
deep fryer.

Are there any tricks to keeping them warm and crispy until all the
batches are done?

Not really. Like french fries and properly fried fish, they're meant to be
eaten immediately. Soggy fried food is only OK if you're drunk, it's 1:00
AM, and you're desperately hungry.

Quoted message said:

Or should I just make a bloomin' onion that everyone can pick at at
the same time?

No. That will also be a greasy mess five minutes after it's cooked. You're
also assuming that your guests like eating greasy stuff.

If you want to stick with the bar food theme, make potato skins, and provide
some interesting toppings for people to choose themselves. Scallions,
chives, REAL bacon bits, grated cheeses, etc.

Weaver & Tyson both make pretty decent chicken nuggets, and some stores
carry big family size bags. Avoid Banquet - it's 80% breading, and it's not
even good breading, according to my small team of 18 year old convenience
food critics. Put these out with various tasty dips (BBQ sauce, blue cheese
dressing, salsa, marinara sauce).

In article <[email hidden]>,

JoeSpareBedroom said:

<Mitch@...> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm having guests tonight, and I was going to make onion rings in the
deep fryer.

Are there any tricks to keeping them warm and crispy until all the
batches are done?

Not really. Like french fries and properly fried fish, they're meant to be
eaten immediately. Soggy fried food is only OK if you're drunk, it's 1:00
AM, and you're desperately hungry.

Quoted message said:

Or should I just make a bloomin' onion that everyone can pick at at
the same time?

No. That will also be a greasy mess five minutes after it's cooked. You're
also assuming that your guests like eating greasy stuff.

If you want to stick with the bar food theme, make potato skins, and provide
some interesting toppings for people to choose themselves. Scallions,
chives, REAL bacon bits, grated cheeses, etc.

Weaver & Tyson both make pretty decent chicken nuggets, and some stores
carry big family size bags. Avoid Banquet - it's 80% breading, and it's not
even good breading, according to my small team of 18 year old convenience
food critics. Put these out with various tasty dips (BBQ sauce, blue cheese
dressing, salsa, marinara sauce).

Unfortunately, I have to concur.
The only good deep fried food of any kind is served fresh and hot.

Consider various fondue type stuff instead.

My table top roaster came with 3 pans so it can be set up as a steam
table. I'd put Little smokies in the middle and hot dips on either side.

Rotel/velveeta on one side and Kraft Original BBQ sauce in the other. ;-)
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a [censored]" -- Jack Nicholson

If its a dinner party, make the bloomin' onion.

I've found to take items from the fryer and keep them in the oven on warm.
That usually keeps them from getting soggy from sitting.

Dan

<Mitch@...> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm having guests tonight, and I was going to make onion rings in the
deep fryer.

Are there any tricks to keeping them warm and crispy until all the
batches are done?

Or should I just make a bloomin' onion that everyone can pick at at
the same time?

Reg said:

Try not to pile them too high, which traps the steam. You want
the steam to dissipate into the air, not build up on the food.
I spread them out on a half sheet, piled not too high, then
leave them in a warm oven. If there are several sheets worth
I jam the oven door open with a wooden spoon to keep a
good airflow.

Good advice. I set cooling racks on 2 jelly roll pans. One pan is
used for the batch just out of the oil. When the next batch is done I
move the previous batch to the next pan. I've found that by using
just one rack the hot oil dripping on the cooler rings makes them
greasy. I used this method just last weekend. After I made a large
batch of rings I grilled the burgers, so the rings were in a 170
degree oven for over a half hour. They were crunchy, warm and not the
least bit greasy.

Lou