Beer-Battered Onion Rings

Peel each onion and slice into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick rings. Add sliced onions to a bowl. Fill the bowl with cold water and let the onions sit submerged for 20 minutes. Drain the water and set the onion slices on a paper towel to air dry.

Prepare oil for frying by pouring it into a medium-sized, high sided pot. To be safe, you do not want your oil to be more than 2 inches deep, and definitely not more than halfway up the side of the pot. Heat the oil to 375ºF. A candy thermometer comes in handy here, but if you don’t have one, heat the oil on medium-high heat for about 5–7 minutes. Test your oil temperature with a small portion of batter. If it browns too quickly, turn the heat down to medium and wait a minute or two to start frying.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and cornstarch. Add beer and whisk to combine.

To begin, dip 4 or 5 onion rings into the batter, shake off some of the excess batter, then carefully drop the rings into the hot oil. Fry on each side for 2–3 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the rings and place on a paper towel to drain slightly.

To freeze onion rings, once the fried onion rings have cooled completely, line the rings in a single layer on baking sheets and freeze. Once frozen, transfer the rings to freezer safe bags.

To reheat frozen onion rings, preheat oven to 400ºF. Line the onion rings in a single layer on baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes, turning once.