How to make Onion Rings

I am posting this because recently when my youngest sister was visiting, she walked into my house while I was making homemade onion rings and commented on how goo it smelled.  onion rings are very easy to make and are better than anything you will get from a fast food place.  There are many recipes out there but I like to keep it simple with this.  Sorry the picture is dark.  I was in my parents kitchen making this for a sunday night dinner and the kitchen was crowded because we had 4 people making one dish each for the dinner!

Ingredients:

2 large sweet onion such as vidalia

2 cups of buttermilk

1 1/2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of yellow corn meal

Salt & pepper

Creole seasoning or cayenne (optional)

Oil for frying

Slice the onions thick, at least 1/4 of an inch.  Separate the onions into rings and place in a large bowl.  Coat the onions with buttermilk, mix and allow to sit in the buttermilk for at least 15 minutes.  In another bowl, mix flour and corn meal together and season liberally with salt and pepper.  Add in creole seasoning or cayenne if desired.  

Heat the oil in a large fry pan.  I always start with a test ring.  Take a single onion ring, allow excess buttermilk to drip back into the bowl and toss onion in the flour mixture.  Using tong, place gently in the oil.  The oil should form immediate bubbles around the onion.  If it doesn't, then the oil is not hot enough.  If the oil is bubbling too hard and the coating is burning before the onion cooks, turn the temperature down.  As with all of the rings, you should cook them until they are brown on one side and then flip to cook the other side.  Taste your first ring and adjust the seasonings if necessary.  Coat and add the remaining rings in batches.  Once rings are browned on both sides, remove from oil and place on paper towels to drain excess oil and then serve hot.