Ingredients

• One large sweet onion (Vidalia, preferably, otherwise just pick the biggest, best yellow onion you can find)
• 3 cups buttermilk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 T salt
• 1 t freshly ground black pepper
• Vegetable oil, for frying

What to do

1.  Peel the onion, trim the ends a little bit, and then slice the onion into rings approximately half an inch wide.

2.  Separate the rings and place them in the buttermilk.  Soak them for an hour or so in the fridge.

3.  When you're ready to make the onion rings, fill a large pot about half way with vegetable oil and heat to about 350-360 degrees F.

4.  While the oil is heating, pour some flour in a shallow bowl or pan, add salt and pepper, and whisk together to combine.  Gather together a slotted spoon or tongs and a plate with several layers of paper towels. 

5.  Set up your bowl of onions and buttermilk, the bowl of flour, and an empty bowl (the on-deck circle, so to speak) near your hot oil. 

6.  Take the onion rings, a few at a time, out of the buttermilk, dredge them in the flour and pile them on the empty plate.

7.  Fry in small batches, turning the rings over about halfway through, until they are crisp and dark golden brown.

8.  Remove from the oil, place on the paper towels to drain, and sprinkle with salt immediately.  Transfer to another paper towel-lined plate in a warm oven, if desired, until all are cooked and ready to serve.

Serve the onion rings as soon after cooking them as you can.  Fried foods don't stay crisp forever, and these are definitely meant to be eaten the day they are cooked.  They don't reheat to the same degree of crispness.