Blooming Onion
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A blooming onion, also called onion bloom, onion blossom, onion flower, bloomin' onion, or onion mum, is a dish consisting of one large onion, cut to resemble a flower (after it has expanded while soaking in ice water), battered, and deep-fried, often served with
dipping sauce A dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, chopped raw vegetables, fruits, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato ch ...
. It is served as an
appetizer An hors d'oeuvre ( ; ), appetiser, appetizer or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the meal, or th ...
at some
restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...
s.


History

References to an "onion mum" consisting of an onion cut into the shape of a flower date as far back as 1947, though this dish did not fry or cook the onion. The more popular fried version of the dish was likely invented by Jeff Glowski in 1985 at
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
restaurant Russell's Marina Grill, where future
Outback Steakhouse Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed casual dining restaurants, serving American cuisine, based in Tampa, Florida. The chain has over 1,000 locations in 23 countries throughout North America, South America, Asia, and Aus ...
founder Tim Gannon worked at the time. The dish was popularized in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
when it appeared as the "Bloomin' Onion", a charter feature of the Outback Steakhouse when that national chain opened in 1988. It is usually served with a restaurant-specific signature dipping sauce. Despite the name's familiarity and frequent use as a generic term, "Bloomin' Onion" is a registered trademark and Outback's owners have issued legal threats to numerous restaurants over their use of similar names. From June 21, 2016, Outback Steakhouse began serving a limited-time-only variant of the Bloomin' Onion, the Loaded Bloomin' Onion.


Nutrition

The
egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...
wash and
deep frying Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly Cooking oil, oil, as opposed to the shallow frying used in conventional frying done in a fryi ...
preparation process of the dish means it is high in calories; a single blooming onion with dressing contains approximately 1,660 calories and 87 grams of fat. In 2007, a study by the
Center for Science in the Public Interest The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a Washington, D.C.–based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group. History and funding CSPI is a consumer advocacy organization. Its focus is nutrition and health, food safety ...
found a fat content of 116 grams, including a combined 44 grams of saturated and trans fat. When it existed, the similarly styled Awesome Blossom at Chili's was ranked "Worst Appetizer in America" by ''
Men's Health ''Men's Health'' (''MH''), published by Hearst Communications, Hearst, is the world's largest men's magazine brand, with 35 editions in 59 countries; it is the bestselling men's magazine on American newsstands. Started as a men's health magazin ...
'' magazine in 2008 for the unusually high totals of
calories The calorie is a unit of energy that originated from the caloric theory of heat. The large calorie, food calorie, dietary calorie, kilocalorie, or kilogram calorie is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one liter o ...
and fat, with 2,710 calories, 203 grams (1,827 calories) of fat, 194 grams of carbohydrates, and 6,360 milligrams of
sodium Sodium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Na (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 element, group 1 of the peri ...
, with as much fat as 67 strips of
bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...
. For reference, the U.S. Reference Daily Intake for fat is 65g and for sodium is 2,300 mg, assuming a 2,000-calorie diet, while typical daily
food energy Food energy is chemical energy that animals and humans derive from food to sustain their metabolism and muscular activity. Most animals derive most of their energy from aerobic respiration, namely combining the carbohydrates, fats, and protein ...
recommendations lie in the range of 1,600 to 3,000 calories.


See also

* Onion ring *
French fries French fries, or simply fries, also known as chips, and finger chips (Indian English), are '' batonnet'' or '' julienne''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin. They are prepared by cutting potatoes into even strips, drying them, and f ...
* Fried onion *
List of hors d'oeuvre This is a list of notable hors d'oeuvre, also referred to as appetizers or starters, which may be served either hot or cold. They are food items served before the main courses of a meal, and are also sometimes served at the dinner table as a part ...
*
List of onion dishes This list consists of notable dishes and foods in which onion is used as a primary ingredient. Onions are widely used in cooking. They are very versatile and can be baked, boiled, braised, grilled, fried, roasted, sautéed or eaten raw. Onion ...


References


External links

* {{Allium American vegetable dishes Appetizers Cuisine of the Southern United States Deep fried foods Fried vegetables Onions Onion-based foods