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Outback Steakhouse calls it a
"Bloomin' Onion", others have their own cute names … by
any name it's a colossal, hot, grease-dripping,
artery-choking wonder. After every time I eat one, I am
heard to exclaim "that was wonderful, but never again!"
And then, next time I see one on the menu … well, you know
what happens. In the middle of a profusion of over
seasoning (why will they ruin a perfectly good
onion or French fry with some dopey "cajun seasoning"
mix?) I prefer my onion blossom plain and simple. Cutters
as seen at right are widely available, but any cook worthy
of the name should be able to manage one with a good
knife.
 4 very
large yellow onions, preferably Vidalia or Texas Sweet
Batter:
1/3 Cup Cornstarch
1½ Cup Flour
2 teaspoons Paprika
1 teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Pepper
24 ounces Beer
Seasoned Flour:
2 Cups Flour
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Pepper
¼ teaspoon Cayenne pepper (optional)
Mix cornstarch, flour, and seasonings until well
blended. Add beer, mix well. Cut about ¾" off top of onion
and peel. Cut onion into 12 to 16 vertical wedges, but do
not cut through bottom root end. Remove about 1" of petals
from center of onion. Dip onion in ice cold water and it
will open up into "petals." Shake dry, then dip it into
seasoned flour and remove excess by shaking. Dip in batter
to coat thoroughly. Gently place in fryer basket and
 deep-fry
at 375° to 400° 1½ minutes. Turn over, and fry an
additional 1½ minutes. Drain on paper towels.
Place onion upright in shallow
bowl and remove center core with circular cutter or apple
corer, or with knife. Serve hot with Creamy Chili Sauce or
other dip.
Creamy Chili Sauce
1
pint Mayonnaise
1 pint Sour cream
½ cup Chili sauce
½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper
EXTRA HOT AND SPICY ONION BLOSSOM DIP
Combine ½ cup Catalina dressing and ¼ cup salsa in
blender. Blend on high speed about 10 seconds just until
smooth.
CHUNKY
ONION BLOSSOM DIP
Stir
together ½ cup salsa, 1/3 cup 1000 Island dressing, 2 tb
sweet pickle relish (with some of the relish juice) and a
dash of Tabasco.
BLUE
CHEESE DIP
Combine ¼ c crumbled blue cheese, 1 8oz bottle ranch
dressing and ¼ teaspoon garlic powder. Stir in 2
tablespoons mayonnaise.
My
favorite dip: Indonesian sweet-hot chili sauce.
Reprinted here with permission
of Wayne Keyser From the
CDRom "On
the Midway"
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