An acquired taste, fried green tomatoes are excellent when done right. There are a few tricks to getting them perfect. Like most simple recipes, the key is getting those simple details exact. One of these tricks is to get green tomatoes that are just starting to get a slight pink color. A tomato that is too ripe will become mushy, a green tomato with just a little bit a pinkness will have be slightly sweeter and less firm than a super green one.

Also, you need to slice to the right thickness. In general you’ll be better off with nice thin slices. They’ll fry up all crispy-like.

If you see in the above photo, I have wisely chosen a slightly pink green tomato, and I have sliced them consistently thin. Next is let us bread and fry these puppies. I use a 50/50 cornmeal / flour mix. Cornmeal is really important for the best texture. Since the tomato is already wet, you don’t need egg wash or milk. You can go straight to it.

Now we fry. Melt some butter in oil. Another little flavor trick here that’s important is that we salt and pepper each side, but we also add a little pinch of sugar as well.

Fry, season with salt/pepper, add a pinch of sugar. Flip, season the other side and another pinch of sugar. And…booom!

Voila!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 (or however many you want) slightly pink green tomato
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 3 TB vegetable oil
• 2 TB butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Slice tomato horizontally into thin (~1/4″) slices.
2. Combine flour and cornmeal.
3. Dredge tomato slices in flour/cornmeal mix.
4. Heat oil in frying pan or skillet on medium. Melt butter into oil.
5. When oil is hot, add as many slices as will fit. Do not overlap.
6. Season each tomato slice with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of sugar to each.
7. When bottom is golden brown, flip each slice.
8. Season again on fried side with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of sugar.
9. When golden brown on both sides, remove from oil and drain on paper towel lined plate. Add more salt to taste. Serve immediately.