Onion rings are a form of fast food

Fast food

Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...

 commonly found in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and some parts of Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. They generally consist of a cross-sectional "ring" of onion

Onion

The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...

 (the circular structure of which lends itself well to this mode of preparation) dipped in batter

Batter (cooking)

Batter is a semi-liquid mixture of one or more flours combined with liquids such as water, milk or eggs used to prepare various foods. Often a leavening agent such as baking powder is included to aerate and fluff up the batter as it cooks, or the mixture may be naturally fermented for this purpose...

 or breading

Breading

Breading is a dry grain-derived food coating for a piece of food such as meat, vegetable, poultry, fish, shellfish, crustacean, seitan, or textured soy, made from breadcrumbs or a breading mixture with seasonings. Breading can also refer to the process of applying a bread-like coating to a food...

 and then deep fried; a variant is made with onion paste. Whole onion rings make for better presentation through a variety of sizes, while those made from a paste offer quantity through consistent size. Consumers of whole onion rings run the risk of pulling the onion out of the batter if they fail to cut it all the way through with their teeth, while onion rings made of onion paste break apart easily but oil absorbency diminishes the onion taste.

History

The exact origins of the onion ring are unknown, but in 1933 a recipe for deep-fried onion rings that are dipped in milk then dredged in flour appeared in a Crisco

Crisco

Crisco is a brand of shortening produced by the J. M. Smucker Co. popular in the United States. Introduced in June 1911 by Procter & Gamble, it was the first shortening to be made entirely of vegetable oil...

 advertisement in The New York Times Magazine

The New York Times Magazine

The New York Times Magazine is a Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of The New York Times. It is host to feature articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors...

.

A recipe for French Fried Onions may have appeared in the Middletown, NY Daily Times on 13 January 1910. It does not claim to be the originator of the recipe.

One claimant to the invention of the onion ring is the Pig Stand restaurant chain, founded in Oak Cliff, Texas, in the early 1920s. The once-thriving chain, whose heyday in the 1940s saw over 100 locations across the United States, also claims to be the originator of Texas toast

Texas toast

Texas toast is a type of packaged bread which is pre-sliced at double the typical thickness of most pre-sliced breads. While it can be used in the same manner as ordinary bread slices such as in sandwiches, it is especially useful for dishes involving liquids or where extra thickness can improve...

.

See also

• Fried onion
  Fried onion
  Fried onions or French fried onions are a popular snack food or garnish accompaniment to various recipes, made from pan frying or deep frying onions thus preparing them in a manner similar to that of French fried potatoes....
  
  s
• Funyuns
  Funyuns
  Funyuns is the brand name of an onion-flavored corn snack introduced in the United States in 1969. While consisting primarily of cornmeal, Funyuns are ring-shaped, alluding to the shape and texture of fried onion rings...
  
  
• Blooming onion
  Blooming onion
  A blooming onion, onion bloom, onion blossom, or onion 'mum is a dish consisting of one large onion which is cut to resemble a flower, battered and deep fried. It is served as an appetizer at some restaurants....
  
  - a whole onion that is cut into a flower shape that fans out