Basket of onion rings | |
| Type | Entree, side dish, snack dish |
|---|---|
| Course | Hors d'oeuvre |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Main ingredients | Onions, batter, or bread crumbs |
An onion ring, also called a French fried onion ring,[1] is a form of appetizer or side dish in 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.
A British recipe from 1802 calls for cutting onions into slices, dipping them into a batter, adding Parmesan cheese, and deep frying them in lard. It suggests serving them with a sauce of melted butter and mustard.[2]
Recipes for and references to deep-fried battered onion slices or rings are found across the 20th century: one in Middletown, New York in 1910;[3] another in a 1933 advertisement for Crisco.[4]
Various restaurants claimed to have invented onion rings, including the Kirby's Pig Stand restaurant chain, founded in Oak Cliff, Texas in the early 1920s.[5]
The cooking process decomposes propanethial oxide in the onion into the sweet-smelling and tasting bispropenyl disulfide, responsible for the slightly sweet taste of onion rings.[6]
