I am looking for a good recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes. Some of my tomatoes in the garden haven't yet ripened, and I'm afraid they won't before it gets cold. Can anyone send me a recipe? Thanks!

-- Sarah Hanchey (hanclisa@isu.edu), September 12, 2000

Answers

Here's the way we do it (The little cafe in Irondale that was the back drop for the Fried Green Tomatoes book (by Fannie Flag) and movie is about 33 miles from here!)

Put just enough grease in the bottom of a skillet to cover it and get it hot. Cut tomatoes in slices, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. (we do not peel ours). Dip tomatoe slices in a beaten egg, then dip in corn meal, then fry until lightly browned on each side.

For a different taste, you can add a little sugar to the cornmeal and fry as usual!!! Some people also dip them in flour instead of cornmeal but I guess that's just a matter of taste!

Eat with some cornbread, northern beans, and fried squash and you've got a meal!!!!

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), September 12, 2000.

Susie, that's not fair!!!! Now I'm so hungry and homesick, only a trip home to Alabama will do!

-- Julie (rjbk@together.net), September 12, 2000.

Suzy! Shame on you! NORTHERN beans? Why not purple hull peas? Or Crowder peas? Or Whippoorwill peas? Or Mississippi Silver Queen peas? But NORTHERN beans? Do you want to get run out of there on a rail? (In my family those beans were called white beans

For all you yankees out there, those are all varieties of BLACK EYED PEAS. Remember the old Bobbie Gentry song "Ode to Billie Joe"? FWIW, I went to college with a girl who claimed to Bobbie Gentry's sister. Big deal.

Sorry if using the word yankees isn't PC. I grew up in Mississippi about 100 miles south of Memphis TN. I had a friend in college from Bay St. Louis MS and she called me a yankee. It's all relative.

Have a good one and pass the cornbread, please.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), September 12, 2000.

Sarah, instead of rolling them in cornmeal--I use fine cracker crumbs & a small amount of flour worked into the cracker crumbs. I then when they are fried sometimes season them with herbs or shaker cheese. Gives a whole nother flavor. You can also do squash & mushrooms, or other veggies the same way. I fix mountain oysters the same way--- since I'm a vegetarain/ I don't eat them but everyone says, they are the best they ever ate. When you are fixing tomatoes & have other veggies fix them the same way at the same time. I also fix a mustard- cheese sauce for dipping the veggies in! And I fix a tomatoe & horseradish sauce for dipping the mountain oysters in. Really good eating!!!!!! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), September 12, 2000.

My favorite way is to dip them in buttermilk/egg mixture or use the packs of buttermilk or ranch dressing mix and add some of it to the flour. Yummy

-- Marci (ajourend@libby.org), September 13, 2000.

Here in Texas we slice em, wet em, roll em in a cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper to taste, then fry them up until brown, they are really good with um um purple hull peas $ cornbread, my hubby puts ketchup on them, but one drawback is they really soak up the grease so that means they're loaded with grease! Good but when I think about all that GREASE Yuk! Not exactly good for the heart! Someone mentioned the purple hull peas and I think I'll have to pull some out of the deep freeze now!!!!!!!

-- Carol (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), September 14, 2000.

Hi we went to the Kansas State fair yesterday & they had a food booth that was selling fried green tomatoes-----so I watched to see how they were makeing them--they were sliced about 1/4 inch thick & she put them in a pancake batter & them dep fat fried them. It was not one whole tomatoe & they charged $4.oo! Not anyways near as good as my own & I'm not bragging just my own opinion! Think I'll stick with my own method! ha Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), September 15, 2000.

We make them like the Texas style. I prefer not too much goo on things. Savor the tomato. Just slice em, (thinner and crispy is better, I think, but not crunchy) dip them in egg (sometimes), flour (corn or white) mixed with salt and black pepper to taste, and fry them in a skillet with just enough butter or bacon grease to minimize the sticking. MMM MMMM....

-- Dan (dconine@dotnet.com), September 18, 2000.