Of Rings and Onions

Growing Up . . .

Onion rings were a side to go with a hamburger

like French fries

(no Suzie Q's, no tater tots --

your choices were fries or rings)

Except French fries were 10 or 15 cents per order

while onion rings were like 25 cents!

Mom would make them at home, sometimes

It's certainly cheap enough for a couple of onions, 

some milk, some flour

And it would feed the family

And homemade was definitely cheaper than those sold at drive-ins

And my brother and I liked them

Now I live in Southeast Kansas

Southeast Kansas is home to onion rings

Not as a side but as an appetizer

Most Mom and Pop restaurants

(read not chains)

Serve them

Hot and good and most  serve a fry basket full

(or you can get a small amount -- but not that much smaller)

at some restaurants

And those appetizers

They're not like 

The onion ring tower that's served at some chains

Served with "sauces" on the side to dip your rings in!

Not a lot of rings and certainly not enough to feed a family . . . 

The Southeast Kansas restaurants serve platters of them

piled high

And often we mistakenly order them and then find

that we're too full for our dinner!

But there are some restaurants that you just cannot go to 

without ordering an onion ring appetizer!

It's just what you do!

Tonight for dinner,

we had hamburgers

And reliving our childhood,

decided to make onion rings, too

And in my "Cooking With Ina" mode, I made her cornmeal fried onion rings

They were good.   I liked the addition of cornmeal.   It gave them a nice crunch.

They are "fussy", however, for you marinate them in buttermilk,

dip in the flour/cornmeal mixture and fry in small batches.

I'm glad I made them, but,

I think the next time I'm in the mood for onion rings,

we'll just head south to Jim's Steak House!