Evaporating Beer Batter

[NulloModo]

Hi,

Tonight I tried my first experiment with making beer battered onion rings. I made my batter, dipped my onion pieces, and tossed them into my deep fryer (the el cheapo fry baby) which was fully heated and full of peanut oil.

When the rings went in however, I was greeted with a huge burst of bubbles, and the onions floated back to the top devoid or batter. I tried changing the ratio of flour to beer in my batter several times, making it thicker and thinner, with the same results, here is my approximate batter recipe:

1/2 cup soy flour

6 oz Beer

1/4 tsp baking powder

seasoned salt

pepper

I dipped the onions in, then put them right into the fryer. Any ideas why this may have happened, or how I could go about fixing it?

[monkeymay]

Did you let the batter rest after you added the beer?

Was your beer at room temp when you added it?

I find both things to be important.

Out of curiosity, why the soy flour? It might be a bit heavy for your purposes. I have been making crepes for a wheat intolerant client that are a combination of rice and soy flour. For the 3/4 cup of AP flour my batter calls for, I use 1/2 cup rice flour to 1/4 cup soy. It seems to make for a nicer mouth feel when cooked.

[NulloModo]

The batter rested while I chopped the onion, but that was only for a couple minutes. The batter, onion, and beer, were therefore all fairly cold (the onion and beer having come straight from the fridge) so perhaps that made the difference?

I used soy flour because I am low-carbing at the moment and unfortunately rice flour would not fit into that model. If I can't find a way to make the soy flour work I will go for a more traditional style 'breading' feel by using crushed pork rinds and an egg wash...

hmmmm... the tastes of pork and onion rings combined, now that has potential ;).

[monkeymay]

I've always let my batter rest for 2-3 hours. It gives the bubbles in the beer a chance to flatten out. I sure there are deeper scientific reasonings, but I tend to suck at explaining things in technical terms. I cut up my onions and soak them for a couple of hours in buttermilk and a spice mix of cumin, cayenne, chili powder and tumeric.

My beer batter is similar to yours but made with wheat flour. Mix it up, let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours, drain the onions, dip them in the batter and deep fry at 375 degrees till golden.

It works every time.

If you're cutting carbs why not forgo the beer, and use water and egg whites for your batter.

Soy flour might work easier within that structure. You also wouldn't have to let it rest and could have immediate gratification as soon as you've beaten your egg white to stiff peaks . (I know that sounds wrong )

All told the crushed pork rinds sound divine.

Hope this helps.

Monica

[markovitch]

I recommend using flat beer.

[Bicycle Lee]

I don't know about flat beer...or letting it rest, but when I use a beer batter and the batter jumps off of the onion it usually means that it is too thin. When I learned how to make a good beer batter I was appalled to find that the best results came from a batter that was as thick as oatmeal...

[Toliver]

Why don't you dip the onion rings in flour first, then dip them in the batter? That's the "normal" process when you batter meat and such (dip in flour then egg wash then the breading mixture). I think the light coating of flour would give the batter something to stick to instead of just the slick surface of the onion.