Fried Green Tomatoes

Steve of YDD asked me for my recipe.

You'll need:
Green tomatoes (duh!)
a cup or so of buttermilk (you can use plain yogurt thinned with a little milk but the buttermilk is best)
Tobasco
Stone ground corn meal (not self rising) about a cup and a half (I use white meal but yellow is fine)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp Seasoned salt or just plain salt, paprika and onion and garlic powder instead.
3 or so Tablespoons of all purpose flour
Canola or peanut oil for frying (enough to put about an 1/8 think film of oil in your pan)
I like to use a nice heavy non stick pan as well.

Get the greenest tomatoes that you can find. You can only get about 4 or 5 good slices 3/8 inch think out of them so plan accordingly.

Soak the tomato slices in the buttermilk for an hour or two or so before cooking. I usually put a few dashes of Tobasco in the buttermilk to give it a little punch

Mix the cornmeal, flour, cayenne, seasoning. You are going to have to adjust the seasoning depending on how much dredge you are making.

After the tomatoes have had their swim take them out one by one and dredge them in the cornmeal mixture, coating thoroughl, and set aside on a piece of wax paper. After all the slices have been through the dredge do it again. Not much will stick the second time but some will.

Fry them carefully in the oil making sure not to crowd them, cooking on the first side until nicely browned and then very carefully turn them and finish the frying. It is best to try and only turn them once. Do them in batches and keep the cooked ones warm in the oven on a pan with a wire rack so they will drain and not get soggy while the others cook.

You have to be gentle with these things as the breading will come off if you are too rough and if you let them sit stacked together in the oven...moisture is their enemy.

BTW this recipe also works with eggplant and catfish filets and probably anything else that you would like to cook this way.