Fried Saltines With Cheddar and Onion

By Gabrielle Hamilton

Published Nov. 21, 2021

Fried Saltines With Cheddar and Onion
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Sophie Leng.
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(502)
Comments
Read comments

McSorley’s Old Ale House in New York City is a perpetually crowded bar with sawdust-covered floors that has been in continuous operation since the 1800s. Besides its ale — dark and light — the bar sells a modest, quirky, perfectly unpretentious cheese plate: Cheddar, raw white onions and saltine crackers with a side of spicy brown mustard. Here, with the minor update of frying the crackers, is a major improvement to an old offering. The plain dry crackers become nutty and extra crisp and salty, warm and rich. It’s like the difference between raw cookie dough and a baked dark-edged batch fresh from the oven. With a sharp tang from Cheddar, the bite of raw onion and that final hit of vinegary mustard heat, this stacked fried saltine makes a lively bite with drinks in any era.

Featured in: A Crispy Upgrade for Cheese and Crackers

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Ingredients

Yield:37 crackers
  • 1pound Cheddar
  • 1small white onion
  • 4cups/32 ounces canola oil
  • 1sleeve saltine crackers
  • Yellow or brown mustard, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (37 servings)

71 calories; 6 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 90 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Slice the Cheddar in neat tablets slightly smaller than the saltines. Slice the onion into thin crescent moons (not half-moons), cutting from root to shoot ends so the ribs fall apart more easily, are shorter and, therefore, more manageable to chew and swallow.

  2. Step 2

    Heat the oil in a deep-sided sauté pan over medium-high to 350 degrees. Stick a wooden chopstick in the oil to see if it sizzles. If it does, it’s ready. Fry the saltines in 3 quick batches, adjusting the heat as needed, using a spider or a slotted spoon to swirl them around a little and to make sure they cook evenly to golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Drain on a wire rack until cool. They keep for a week in an airtight container.

  3. Step 3

    Set the crackers, cheese and onion on a platter to serve with mustard in a ramekin.

Ratings

4 out of 5
502 user ratings
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Comments

Rachel Penn

In her 1998 book, Comfortable Entertaining, Nathalie Dupree has a recipe for P.D.C.'s Divine Saltines that calls for dipping the crackers lightly in melted butter and baking them at 300 degrees for 5 to 8 minutes, until crisp and golden. They are also good with herbs of choice, curry, or parmesan cheese. These keep well in an airtight container at room temperature up to a week in advance and can also be frozen and recrisped. Another happy variation on a simple treat!

Janet H.

From now on, I will do whatever this chef says with complete obedience., regardless of the recipe. She really is amazing. Who knew that this kind of alchemy exists between onions, sharp cheddar cheese, mustard, and fried saltines in the first place? When I got out the crackers and other ingredients for guests, my partner (who hates onions), looked at me like I was off my rocker.....but he tried it and was a convert. Followed recipe using the peanut oil I had on hand. A Keeper!

Mattattack

Can you use Ritz crackers?

Just Wandering

Really good! We also enjoyed it with the saltines fried in bacon fat and adding thin slices of really good pepperoni to the plate — delicious! If you use gluten-free saltines, I recommend baking the GF saltines in butter instead of frying, as the GF saltines tend ti fall apart more easily.

A

Has to be Coleman's Mustard or an appropriately spicy horseradish foreward mustard! anyone who's ever been to mcsorleys knows. brown? yellow? is this a joke?

Joe

Gabrielle's "Prune" Cookbook is filled with outstanding recipes. She give many of her restaurant methods and tricks that adapt to the home kitchen. She also shows numerous smart ways to use EVERYTHING and waste NOTHING

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