Southern Classic Fried Green Tomatoes

These fried green tomatoes bring me back to when I was a small kid. Grandma and Mama would go out in the garden and pick some of them green ‘maters and I thought they’d pick them way too early. But then they’d fry ’em on a Sunday and put them out with some good ol’ classic fried chicken. Mmh. A lot of memories.

So today for y’all I’ve got a classic Southern Fried Green Tomatoes with an interesting twist. So, let’s take a look at it, folks.

Pick the maters that start having a little color to it.

Now, when you’re looking for a green tomato, the green-green are good ones, but they can be pretty tart. So, I like to get one that starts to have a little color to it and make sure it’s nice and firm.

Slice a quarter of an inch each.

First, slice that bad piece off the end and just give it to the rabbits. Then, they need to be cut into 1/4-inch slices, so they aren’t too thick and will fry up quickly. Plus, you get quite a few servings out of one ‘mater.

Sprinkle the tomatoes with sugar.

The next step is vitally important, so get yourself two paper towels and lay the tomatoes to let them dry a little bit. Like I said, ‘maters can be a little tart, so here’s the twist we’re gonna do. And I can hear you ol’ Southern people getting on to me, but I like to sprinkle them with a pretty good coating of sugar and some seasoning. Then, cover them with two more paper towels and let ’em sit for ten minutes.

Well, now we’re gonna talk about what we gonna coat them with. I like to use a cornmeal mix. So, we’ll mix together cornmeal mix and flour, together with Red River Ranch Mesquite seasoning, which you can get here.

Mash the croutons.

Another trick to make those tomatoes different – I like to give them a coating of Texas Toast Garlic Cheese Croutons. But you gotta mash them.

Sure, you can use some food processor, but I ain’t got any electricity here, so we’re gonna do it the old-fashioned way. What we got is a hammer or also called – crouton crumbler, yes it is!

One last mix we gonna need is an egg with buttermilk. Give it a good stirring to get everybody incorporated well.

Dip the maters before frying.

Our assembly line is all set up here. Before putting them ‘maters in the hot oil, there’s one more thing I’m gonna do, and that is just a little sprinkling of sugar one more time.

Dip them in the buttermilk, the cornmeal, buttermilk and finish in the croutons.

Then we’ll put them in the hot oil, and you’ll see they’re browning the edge pretty quick there, so you don’t need to fry them long. Maybe a minute to a minute and a half on each side if your oil is good and hot. And you gotta do this in a cast-iron skillet. That’s just the old classic way.

Fry them 1-1.5 mins on each side.

Now you know what to do the next time you’re in the garden hunting for green tomatoes. Y’all enjoy and check out the full video on how we put these together below.

Watch us fry up these tasty fellers…

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Classic Southern Fried Green Tomatoes - Cowboy Kent Rollins

Ingredients

• 2 medium to large green tomatoes
• Sugar for sprinkling
• Black pepper
• 1 cup cornmeal mix
• 2 tablespoons Red River Ranch Mesquite or other all-purpose seasoning
• 1 cup all-purpose flour divided
• 1 5 oz. sack Texas Toast Garlic Cheese Croutons (or other seasoned croutons), finely crushed
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• Fry oil Canola oil, peanut, etc.

Instructions

• Slice the tomatoes about ¼ - inch thick and set on two paper towels.
• Sprinkle both sides of the tomatoes generously with the sugar and then with the black pepper. Cover with a paper towel and let set 10 minutes.
• In a bowl, combine the cornmeal mix, seasoning and ½ cup of the flour. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl, combine the bread crumbs and the remaining ½ cup flour.
• In a third bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk.
• Pour the oil in a cast iron skillet about ¼-inch deep. Heat to 350 degrees F.
• Uncover the tomatoes and sprinkle lightly with sugar, once more. Skip this step if you like a more tart tomato.
• Dredge each tomato in the buttermilk followed by the cornmeal mix.
• Dredge through the buttermilk again and then finish in the crouton mixture to generously coat. Lightly pat the crumb mixture on both sides of the tomato so it sticks before frying.
• Fry about 1 - 2 minutes per side or until crispy and golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack. Serve warm.

Notes

This is a classic southern fried specialty. And since it's tomato and garden season we thought this would be a great one to share. These come out crispy and with a great flavor with the special crust, we put on them.