Fried Green Tomatoes

This classic Southern dish has its roots in thrift and seasonality—when the first frost threatens, or tomatoes cease to ripen on the vine, it’s time to harvest them green and turn them into something delicious. For dipping or drizzling, Chloe’s Salad Dressing goes great with these, or stir together a quick spicy mayo: a big dollop of mayonnaise with a generous shake of your favorite hot sauce (Frank’s is our go-to).

Fried green tomatoes recipe

Serves 4-6 as a side

Ingredients:

4 medium green (unripe) tomatoes, sliced crossways into 1/4” thick slices
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk or buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt + 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fine-ground cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Ground pepper
Oil for frying: sunflower, grapeseed, canola, or peanut all work. You’ll need at least a pint, or enough to fill a medium skillet about 1” deep.

Instructions:

Prepare your equipment. Use a heavy skillet (I prefer cast iron) and fill it with oil about 1” deep. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. On a small tray or platter, mix together the cornmeal, flour, and 1 teaspoon salt as your dredge. You’ll be double dredging! You can heat the oil up slowly while you’re dredging. Have another tray prepared with a few layers of paper towels on top.
First, press a tomato slice into the dry dredge on both sides and knock off the extra—you want a thin coating of flours. Then, dip it fully in the egg mixture to coat. Shake off any excess egg mixture. Finally, dredge the eggy tomato slice in the flour mixture once again—on both sides and around the rim, too. You want it evenly coated with dredge but shake off excess. Repeat with all tomato slices. You can do some of them while first tomatoes are frying.
Determine when your oil is ready for frying. I usually eyeball it and wait until the oil is shimmering but not smoking, and test it by flicking in a little bit of dredge. If it sizzles vigorously then it should be ready. If you have a thermometer, wait until the oil reaches around 350°.
Once you’re ready to fry, have a slotted spoon or spider on hand and carefully lower a couple of tomato slices into the oil. It should sizzle energetically but you don’t want it to foam viciously—then it’s too hot! After a couple of minutes, flip slices over. They’re done when they are golden brown. Remove from oil, tap off excess, and put onto paper towels to drain. Repeat with all the tomatoes, taking care not to crowd the pan. You want the temperature to maintain, so you may need to raise and lower the heat occasionally to adjust it. You can put cooked tomatoes in a warm oven (around 225°) so they can be served hot.