What is an "egg" actually doing in a flour recipe (onion rings) anyway?

[Danny D]

My kid and I am just learning how to cook, and I keep seeing these
recipes that call for "an egg".
http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/12981834/img/12981834.jpg

For example, we were making onion rings today and found this:
http://www.bhg.com/recipes/how-to/cooking-basics/how-to-make-onion-rings/

Seems to me, except for the seasoning, the egg & milk aren't
any better or worse than equivalent amounts of water ... but
maybe I'm missing something.

QUESTION: What 'does' the egg actually do in these recipes?

[Danny D]

[Danny D]

[ImStillMags]

On May 14, 4:20 pm, Danny D <Dan...@example.com> wrote:
> My kid and I am just learning how to cook, and I keep seeing these
> recipes that call for "an egg".
>  http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/12981834/img/12981834.jpg
>

> For example, we were making onion rings today and found this:http://www.bhg.com/recipes/how-to/cooking-basics/how-to-make-onion-ri...

>
> Seems to me, except for the seasoning, the egg & milk aren't
> any better or worse than equivalent amounts of water ... but
> maybe I'm missing something.
>
> QUESTION: What 'does' the egg actually do in these recipes?

You only have to ask one.

The egg is a binder. It causes the flour to stick to whatever is
dipped in the egg wash. Ever tried to get egg off a plate. It's
like glue.
That's it's purpose.

[Pico Rico]

"Danny D" <Dan...@example.com> wrote in message
news:kmugpi$au9$1...@speranza.aioe.org...

The egg shell, if you are using it, would add crunch, I suppose. I would
recommend against it.

You don't need to use egg, but it provides some volume. Tenpura batter has
no egg (look it up). You can also just dust the onion rings with flour for
a different end result.

[Danny D]

On Tue, 14 May 2013 16:23:04 -0700, ImStillMags wrote:

> You only have to ask one.

Damn aioe does that every once in a while but I apologize nonetheless.
I'm not sure how to stop that.

What seems to happen is that the post "hangs", and then disappears after
about 30 seconds.

Unfortunately, there's nothing I do overtly to cause it; and more
importantly, to stop it.

Most time it only posts once. I can't figure out why it does that
threesome. Sigh.

[Danny D.]

On Tue, 14 May 2013 17:31:13 -0700, Pico Rico wrote:

> You don't need to use egg, but it provides some volume.

OK. I guess the egg would provide more volume than,
say, water.

PS: Sorry for the duplicate posts; I wrote to the aioe server
admin Paolo, to see if he can debug why that happens. I'll use
a different server for this response.

[Danny D.]

On Tue, 14 May 2013 16:23:04 -0700, ImStillMags wrote:

> The egg is a binder. It's like glue.

OK. Makes sense we'd want glue, since we're trying to get
the flour to stick to the otherwise slippery onion rings.

A) The egg is a gluey binder.

PS: Sorry for the duplicate posts; I wrote to the aioe server
admin Paolo, to see if he can debug why that happens. I'll use

a different server that doesn't hiccup so much.

[Julie Bove]

"Danny D" <Dan...@example.com> wrote in message
news:kmugpi$au9$1...@speranza.aioe.org...

The egg is the binder. Not all recipes call for egg but most will call for
egg and milk. There are different ways to make onion rings. Note that I
have never actually made them but there are some allergen free (top 8) ones
that use neither wheat, egg or dairy.

[Nancy2]

On May 14, 7:31 pm, "Pico Rico" <PicoR...@nonospam.com> wrote:
> "Danny D" <Dan...@example.com> wrote in message
>
> news:kmugpi$au9$1...@speranza.aioe.org...
>
> > My kid and I am just learning how to cook, and I keep seeing these
> > recipes that call for "an egg".
> >http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/12981834/img/12981834.jpg
>
> > For example, we were making onion rings today and found this:

> >http://www.bhg.com/recipes/how-to/cooking-basics/how-to-make-onion-ri...

>
> > Seems to me, except for the seasoning, the egg & milk aren't
> > any better or worse than equivalent amounts of water ... but
> > maybe I'm missing something.
>
> > QUESTION: What 'does' the egg actually do in these recipes?
>
> The egg shell, if you are using it, would add crunch, I suppose.  I would
> recommend against it.
>
> You don't need to use egg, but it provides some volume.  Tenpura batter has
> no egg (look it up).  You can also just dust the onion rings with flour for
> a different end result.

I.e., your egg batter will puff up more than just plain water. Here's
mine - it's really good - you may need to add beer to the batter if it
gets too thick.

1 large onion
2 1/4 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
20-24 oz. room temperature beer

Cut the rings and put them in ice water for at least 3 hours (use ice
cubes and water, and put the container in the fridge).

Oil temp should be at least 375 deg. F. - in my big electric frypan,
400 worked better because I cut the rings fairly thin.

Drain the rings and shake them in a bag of flour until they're well-
coated. Submerse in the beer batter and drop in the oil. Fry until
light brown, turning once. Keep warm on a rack on a cookie sheet in
the oven - salt just before serving.

I don't like to put them on paper towel, because the grease kind of
soaks back in - so I put out a cookie sheet with a small cooling rack
on top, and load the onion rings on that to drain and dry - keep the
oven about 200 or so (warm).

N.

[George M. Middius]

Danny D wrote:

> My kid ... am just learning how to cook

Schoolin' sure am useful.