The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

browning and toughening of the main ingredient being fried
(that would be the onions or the cod) while simultaneously
adding textural contrast and flavor to the exterior.
It’s always difficult to decide whether to get onion rings
or fries (get a combo if they’ll let you!). Proper beer-battered
onion rings, with a substantial crisp crust covering a sweet,
tender, thick ring of onion, are one of life’s three greatest
pleasures (and the only one that can be enjoyed legally,
incidentally), but how often do you get perfect rings? These
are the four most common ways that a good beer-battered
onion ring turns into a bad one: