Title: The Palm's famous French-fried Onion Rings
Categories: Side
Yield: 4 Servings

from Executive Chef Sang Ek via Jack Poulter

To serve four:

3 jumbo Spanish onions 1 c all-purpose flour vegetable shortening or oil (enough to fill at least three or four inches of your frying pot) salt to taste

NOTE: If you've ever deep-fried foods, you know that it's simple but tricky at the same time; it's important to keep the oil at as constant a temperature as possible. This means that unless you have a powerful, commercial-style fryer, which is unlikely, you need to fry the onions in small batches so that the oil temperature doesn't plunge the moment you drop in the onions -- which would make the final product greasy instead of light and crispy.

Of course, the trouble with frying things in batches is that the first batch gets cold, and your eaters get impatient, while you're still sweating over the third batch, but Executive Chef Sang Ek recommends a strategy to avoid that: about an hour or so before you plan to eat them, fry all the onions in small batches until they are almost (but not quite) as golden brown as you want to serve them, let them drain ... and then when you're finally ready to eat, refry them all at once at 375 degrees for less than a minute, maybe only 15 seconds or so, to reheat and recrisp them.

Preheat oil to 375 degrees (use a cooking thermometer!).

Slice onions in thin rings, not even 1/8" thick. Put a handful in a bowl (or as many as you think your deep-fat fryer can take without the temperature plunging) and sprinkle and quickly toss with just enough flour to make the onions feel light and fluffy, so they do not stick to each other. Immediately (but carefully) drop the floured onions into the 375 degree oil, and fry until almost (but not quite) as golden brown as you like them. It will probably take a couple of minutes or less. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Make the rest of the onions in batches like this one.

Just before you're ready to eat, heat the oil again to 375 degrees, and fry the almost-finished onion rings a second time until they're hot and crispy ~- less than a minute, maybe way less. Drain and immediately sprinkle with salt. Enjoy without guilt!

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