can be placed on a rack on a rimmed baking sheet and kept hot in a 200°F oven while you fry the remaining rings Serve the rings immediately COATING Style 4: THIN BATTERS Japanese-Style Tempura Tempura-style batters were originally brought to Japan by Portuguese missionaries in the sixteenth century.‡ ‡ ‡ Since then, tempura has been perfected to a near art form by Japanese chefs At the best tempura houses in Japan, all of your courses will be cooked by a single tempura chef who spent years in apprenticeship before ever being allowed to touch the batter or fry oil Tempura chefs are sort of like the Jedi of the cooking world: they must deftly perform with the utmost skill and precision, using extremely dangerous tools, all while maintaining a calm, serene demeanor It is an elegant technique, from a more civilized time The bad news is that you, I, and the vast majority of people in the world are never going to become as great as the masters who spend their entire lives training But the good news is that we can get about 90 percent of the way there right off the bat The key characteristics of a tempura-style batter are extreme lightness of color and texture: good tempura should be pale blond with an extraordinarily lacy, light, and crisp coating To achieve this takes just a little more care than other types of batter Traditional tempura batter is made by combining flour (usually a mix of wheat flour and lowerprotein-rice flour—I use wheat flour and cornstarch instead) with eggs and ice-cold water The batter is mixed until just ... apprenticeship before ever being allowed to touch the batter or fry oil Tempura chefs are sort of like the Jedi of the cooking world: they must deftly perform with the utmost skill and precision, using extremely... technique, from a more civilized time The bad news is that you, I, and the vast majority of people in the world are never going to become as great as the masters who spend their entire lives training But the good news is that we can... their entire lives training But the good news is that we can get about 90 percent of the way there right off the bat The key characteristics of a tempura-style batter are extreme lightness of color and texture: good tempura should