Fried Green Tomatoes

Fried Green Tomatoes with Chox TheMuse

One of my favorite early harvest treats is a perfectly fried green tomato. Like most people, I have first heard about this from the 1991 Movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" I loved the movie so much that I HAD to try this amazing dish that Evelyn Couch brought to Ninny Threadgood for her birthday. They looked like perfect disks of fried goodness and watching Ninny's reaction as she ate one really made me want to try it more. I owned this movie on VHS but I think it's available on dvd now!

Click here for my link to check out the movie: https://amzn.to/3ttJOuE

This dish has taken me a few years to perfect and when I try a new recipe or alter the way I fry these, they don't turn out how I like them so I stick to this one on a regular basis. I get excited for these in the summer when I start to smell the tomatoes growing, they have such an original scent and it makes my mouth water. Here is my recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes and I'll share the link for my video below that if you want to see exactly how I do it. The best way to make this go smoothly is to do your prep work. Get everything ready to go before you turn the pan on.

Chox's Fried Green Tomatoes

You'll need: 4 - 5 medium - large green tomatoes, 3 bowls with their ingredients, oil for frying, and a wire rack to drain them on.

1st bowl: 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper

2nd bowl: 2 eggs that have been mixed well with a fork, fork beaten

3rd bowl: 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup cornmeal, 1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper, any additional spice you want to add for flavor. I added a bit of cayenne when I made this today. Use the back of a spoon to press the flour and cornmeal together for a better consistency.

Thinly cut the top and bottom off of your tomato, you don't want to have that tough middle stem part or the skin on the outside of that slice. Having the skin cover the whole slice will make it impossible for the coating to stick to it.

Now slice your tomatoes to 1/4 inch thick. Try to keep the size consistent and not too thin. If they are too thin, they will get all floppy once fried. We want these to be thick enough to hold up after they are golden brown.

Get the 3 bowls of ingredients together. Set aside a clean fork for each bowl to keep them cleaner as we work through them.

Pour a bit of oil in the frying pan, enough to coat the bottom of the pan but not too deep and warm the pan up to a medium heat. Now we are ready to start cooking!

Take your tomato slice and dip both sides (dredge) it in the bowl of flour with your fork, tap off the excess flour and move the tomato to the 2nd bowl with the eggs. Using the egg fork, flip the tomato slice gently and cover with egg, let the excess drip back into the bowl and move the tomato to the cornmeal bowl and use that fork to flip it over and coat on both sides. Tap off excess coating and put in the frying pan.

I follow a clockwise patern when I am putting the tomatoes in the pan so I know what one I put in there first. Fry them for a few minutes until they are golden brown and gently flip over. Usually around 4-8 minutes per side, but keep an eye on them and check on them when you see the edges getting brown. Be careful when flipping them over because hot oil might splatter.

When they are browned on both sides, remove from the pan and set on the wire rack. Make sure that something is under it to catch the oil that drips off. Put the tomatoes with the hot side down on the wire rack and that will help more oil drip off. Add a little more oil to the pan as needed and continue with this pattern until you run out of tomatoes or anything in the bowls. This recipe can be adjusted as needed, it depends on how many you are making. I recommend that these are served right away as I don't find them as pleasant when they are cold or re-heated. I hope that you enjoyed this and please check out my video to see exactly how I do this.

Video link: https://youtu.be/AmjGR0JGdtc

Until the next adventure,

Chox TheMuse