Fried Green Tomatoes
Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 11:07 am
We're beginning to get hard frosts, so the remaining tomato plants were uprooted today and the unripe tomatoes had to be dealt with somehow. "Fried green tomatoes" said the boss, of whom it might be truthfully said that the movie of that name was the last she had watched, and on VHS at that. After some grumbling, I did some research. That story was based upon a real café that is said to use 135lb of green tomatoes each day for these snacky starters. Their recipe is available, and like so much southern cooking, involves bacon grease, cornmeal and salt. Well, no one lives forever! - let's give it a try!
The tomatoes are fried in a batter of flour, cornmeal, and egg, seasoned with some salt and pepper. We rely on the heated tomatoes undergoing some form of the Maillard reaction to become sweet. The recipe from southernliving.com goes like this:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided into two 1/4 cup portions
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices
Vegetable oil (no bacon grease for the boss, so I used a mix of olive and peanut oils)
Salt to taste
Preparation
Combine egg and buttermilk; set aside.
Combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl or pan.
Dredge tomato slices in remaining 1/4 cup flour; dip in egg mixture, and dredge in cornmeal mixture.
Pour oil to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in a large cast-iron skillet; heat to 375°. Drop tomatoes, in batches, into hot oil, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels or a rack. Sprinkle hot tomatoes with salt.
I found three minutes each side worked better on my stove. There was some left over batter mix even after doing thrice as many tomatoes as the recipe recommended, so I decided to mix the remaining flour, egg/buttermilk, and cornmeal mixes and fry up the king of all hushpuppies. I added a few drops of smoke flavouring to the oil before I fried the hushpuppy, just for fun.
There you see a couple more tomatoes and some cape gooseberries, some of the fried green tomatoes and some of the hushpuppy that has not yet been torn up and eaten. The last is way too salty - the salt in it is to season the batter on a fried tomato, but by itself it is too much. But, waste not, want not. If I ever do this again, I swear I will mix some parmesan cheese in with the cornmeal. That begins to get interesting.
Chris
The tomatoes are fried in a batter of flour, cornmeal, and egg, seasoned with some salt and pepper. We rely on the heated tomatoes undergoing some form of the Maillard reaction to become sweet. The recipe from southernliving.com goes like this:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided into two 1/4 cup portions
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices
Vegetable oil (no bacon grease for the boss, so I used a mix of olive and peanut oils)
Salt to taste
Preparation
Combine egg and buttermilk; set aside.
Combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl or pan.
Dredge tomato slices in remaining 1/4 cup flour; dip in egg mixture, and dredge in cornmeal mixture.
Pour oil to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in a large cast-iron skillet; heat to 375°. Drop tomatoes, in batches, into hot oil, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels or a rack. Sprinkle hot tomatoes with salt.
I found three minutes each side worked better on my stove. There was some left over batter mix even after doing thrice as many tomatoes as the recipe recommended, so I decided to mix the remaining flour, egg/buttermilk, and cornmeal mixes and fry up the king of all hushpuppies. I added a few drops of smoke flavouring to the oil before I fried the hushpuppy, just for fun.
- DSC_0391.jpg (144.25 KiB) Viewed 4027 times
Chris
