There's something about rounds of sliced onions coated with crisp, crunchy goodness and dusted with salt that I just can't resist.
My first remembrance of onion rings is a box of frozen Mrs. Paul's that I would dump out on one of my mom's cookie sheets and bake as an after-school snack to share with friends who would come over after a long day of high school classes.
Over the years I've become much more selective with the onion rings I eat. I never, never eat the kind from the freezer case at the grocery store. And I never order them at a restaurant unless I know for sure they are made in-house.
When I was in New Orleans last month for the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual conference, I had the opportunity to stop in to Mandina's Restaurant. A neighborhood establishment that opened in 1932, locals and tourists alike appreciate the great food and friendly, casual atmosphere that is still carried on by fourth-generation Cindy Mandina. My visit to Mandina's was not prompted by a hungry tummy.
I was there as a food writer working on a project about gumbo with photographer Rick Browne. You may know him from "Barbecue America," the National Public Television show that he hosts or from one of the four cookbooks he's written. Several small teams of writers, food stylists and food photographers were on a mission that day to collect information about gumbo from all kinds of places in and around New Orleans.
The photos and stories that come from that day of exploring will provide the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB) in New Orleans with visual and written content to exhibit. An accompanying book with pictures and stories about the cradle of gumbo will be published. This will not only help the museum, but also the local community, by bringing publicity and attention to the region's small agricultural producers and restaurants. All proceeds from the book will be split between The Culinary Trust and the SoFAB Museum.
Mandina's was just one of the places on our adventure that day. As Rick and I visited with Cindy Mandina and her Executive Chef, I noticed several platters going by piled high with onion rings that looked light and crispy. I had to have some before I left that warm, cozy place. Oh, they were so good. Each bite brought a bit of tender sweet onion coated with lightly seasoned crunch with no strings of onion attached. Just a nice clean bite every time. They are an onion ring-lovers dream.
That was the end of onion rings for me for a little while, just until my good friends and neighbors brought some large sweet Texas onions back for me from their winter stay in Pfarr, Texas. I knew exactly what I would do with some of them. I would try to recreate those Mandina onion rings.
When I visited with the onion ring-maker in the kitchen at Mandina's, I'm pretty sure I remember him saying that he dipped rings of onions in buttermilk and eggs and then a seasoned flour mixture. I did a search on the internet and found a recipe that sounded like it could be similar to the rings I shared with Rick at Mandina's.
The recipe I used comes from RecipeZaar. To get to the recipe, click here.
The recipe calls for panko, bread crumbs that are coarser than the traditional crumbs usually found in cans in the grocery store. Panko is flaky and light and creates a very crisp coating on the onions. I find it in all the grocery stores these days, sometimes by the traditional bread crumbs and sometimes in the international aisle with the Asian products.
I found that placing the flour mixture in a 9-x13-inch baking pan and tossing the buttermilk coated onions in this pan worked very well. I used peanut oil for frying.
They really are delicious and go so well with the turkey burgers that I have in my All About Food column this week.
Next time you get to New Orleans, put Mandina's Restaurant on your "must go to" list. And be sure to order a platter of onion rings.
Sue Doeden is a popular cooking instructor, food writer and integrative nutrition health coach. She is the host of Good Food, Good Life 365 on Lakeland Public Television. Her own hives full of hardworking bees and her love of honey led to the creation of her recently published cookbook, Homemade with Honey.