So I thought I might pick a couple of green big beef tomatoes for fried green tomatoes this evening. Recipes online seem to be all over the place on the coating, flour, bread crumbs, corn meal, various combinations, then is it buttermilk and or milk and or egg washes or no wash at all.

What say you, fried green tomatoes aficionados with some experience making this old classic, what is the best way to achieve a crust that has some crispy texture, isn’t perhaps the dominant feature and also adheres to the tomatoes throughout the cook? Seems like the last time we made fried green tomatoes, the batter mostly fell away from the tomatoes.

I will order fried green tomatoes from a restaurant menu and and have thoroughly enjoyed them, but I have never thought too much on just how the restaurant pulled off the process.

One recipe I saw was to season the sliced tomatoes then dip the sliced and seasoned tomatoes in flour and let them sit a bit, then dip again and shake off the excess. No egg or milk wash, but dip, rest, dip again, shake then fry. This recipe sounds intriguing as it should not have a ginormous thick hunk of batter encasing the tomato slices, but maybe a ginormous thick armor encasing the tomato slices is just the thing I should be striving for.

I think the plan is to have the fried green tomatoes with some pork chops, maybe those will be smothered.
I can see maybe a hot mayonnaise would be just the thing to put on the tomatoes once out of the fryer. Mayonnaise with a bit of hot sauce and a squeeze of lime or something.

And we are off! Seasoned the slices with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt to add flavor and sweat the moisture out some. Will dab these in a little while, 5 minutes before the chicken wings my wife is frying are done. Then flour, egg wash, flour/cornmeal mix.

Health food.

Wife loves them. She loves the Crispy exterior, creamy interior. She says the taste is a little fried okra like.
Me, I also liked the crispy exterior and creamy insides. A little nice tanginess in there too. I made a sriracha mayo for a dipping sauce and then added some of the homemade thai pepper sauce on top of that, some capsaicin heat helps cut through the richness. A squeeze of lime also helped.

Son got delayed at work so he’s not had any yet.

I wouldn’t change anything about the recipe that I can think of. It’s one of these once in a while treats or something, not everyday type of fare.

Fried Green tomatoes aren’t maybe the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. Seems like one of those things people do with tomatoes. I thought our effort last night was very good. The crust stayed on, that is the first hurdle. I cut the tomatoes well ahead of time and seasoned them. Tons of moisture came out after a little while and I dabbed that moisture off. Then we floured the slices and allowed that to sit a few minutes. Then the milk/egg wash was the next step and then a corn meal/ wheat flour mix was the last step. The tomatoes got fried at 350° in an electric skillet that had chicken wings fried in peanut oil minutes before. Same oil, we didn’t change it out, it wasn’t burned. Maybe 4 minutes per side until golden brown.

Creamy interior with the crisp crust was a nice mix, not sure we could improve upon the recipe texturally. Fried green tomatoes, I used Big Beef, don’t have a what I would call a bold flavor. Just a little tangy quality and maybe a touch of sweetness. To my tastes, they beg for some capsicum spice and more acidity. I think next time, I’d work on finding the ideal sauce to compliment the tomatoes.