The LIPAVI kitchenVegetables, Fruits and Starches

Sous Vide Onion Rings

You wouldn't think that sous vide would benefit something like the classic american diner item--onion rings. Read on!

Let’s cook

Precision in the kitchen. Possibility on the plate.

Sous Vide Onion Rings
From the LIPAVI recipe collection

Gather & prepare

Ingredients

Check off each item as you go.

  • onion, whole, 1 ea.
  • eggs, 2 ea.
  • flour, 2 cups, as needed.
  • breadcrumbs, fine, 4 cups, as needed
  • grated Pecorino Romano and shaved Romaine, as needed.
  • Ketchup remains the first choice. Up to one cup/240 ml..
  • Equipment requirements
  • Immersion circulator, portable or stationary.
  • Heat rated container, minimum of 2 gallons/8 liters.
  • Heat rated sous vide bags.
  • Infrared or probe thermometer.

Make something good

The method

Serves 2-4 Level of difficulty 2.25

Sous Vide Onion RIngs Vacuum seal the onion and process at 183 F/84 C for one hour. Shock to 70F/21C, and refrigerate to 40F/4.5C. Peel, slice the onion to uniform rings, and separate.The size guideline is thick enough to maintain a little strength, and thin enough to be eaten comfortably. With dry hands, gently dip, toss and sprinkle with generous amounts of flour. Lay some onions down, sprinkle, shuffle carefully, until they are all dry to the touch. Leftover flour can be resifted and saved for other breading projects. Eggs, (2 oz/240 ml each) and 4 oz water. Mix well.

Drop the onions, one by one, in to the liquid solution. Make sure they are well coated, wet on all sides.

On a large flat surface, sprinkle a generous amount of crumbs. Lay the wet onion rings on the dry crumbs, not touching.

Sprinkle heavily with more crumbs. Strain and save leftover crumbs.

Lay out the rings and take a quick look to see how well the coating stuck. If you see large naked spots, you can very carefully dip just those little areas back into the egg mix and then into the crumbs. The hotter the oil, the sooner it will wear out, so I try to work between 300F and 325F. Deep fry the rings until they are golden brown. Sprinkle with the cheese, serve with ketchup or your favorite dipping sauce.

Norm King