ring—the membrane will slip off Onions have a thin membrane between each layer Because of their thinness and lack of structure, these membranes shrink much more than the ring itself during cooking and it’s this shrinkage that tears a hole in the partially set batter, allowing oil to rush inside Removing the membranes before battering solved the problem, but it was a tedious process—about as much fun as trying to brush my dog’s teeth, and much less cute Soaking the rings in water for half an hour before attempting the separation helped, but I found it was far better to place the onion rings in the freezer When vegetables are frozen, their water content crystallizes into large, jagged shards of ice, puncturing cells, which results in limp vegetables In most cases, this is a bad thing—that’s why frozen vegetables are almost never as good as fresh With onions destined for the batter, however, this is not a defect—indeed, aside from making the inner membranes easier to remove, freezing tenderized the rings to the point that they could be broken quite easily when bitten; I’d inadvertently ended up solving my worming problem as well! I was so ecstatic at the breakthrough that the only logical course of action was to commemorate the discovery with a celebratory batch of perfectly crisp, perfectly tender, wormand crack-free, golden brown, beer-scented, sweet-and-salty onion rings ... Soaking the rings in water for half an hour before attempting the separation helped, but I found it was far better to place the onion rings in the freezer When vegetables are frozen, their water... With onions destined for the batter, however, this is not a defect—indeed, aside from making the inner membranes easier to remove, freezing tenderized the rings to the point that they could be broken... up solving my worming problem as well! I was so ecstatic at the breakthrough that the only logical course of action was to commemorate the discovery with a celebratory batch of perfectly crisp, perfectly tender, wormand crack-free, golden brown, beer-scented, sweet-and-salty