Southern Unami

The culinary world identifies five basic flavors, salty, savory, sweet, sour and unami.  We generally understand the first four but the fifth is a little more difficult to explain....for some folks.  However if you enjoy Southern food, the unami experience begins with a green tomato.

The drought of 2012 has hit the midwest hard.  Farmers are plowing under dead and dying crops.  Backyard gardens struggle without decent rainfall.  Watering is fine but there are nutrients in rainwater you just can't get from your faucet.  A friend had to pull out some of his tomato plants due to disease to the foliage.  But what to do with the tiny, little green tomatoes?  Don't waste them, email the fried green tomato freak to COME AND GET'EM!!

Fried green tomatoes are simplicity.  Fill a plastic bag with equal parts flour and cornmeal.  Slice your  tomatoes roughly the same thickness so that they fry evenly.  Place the slices in the plastic bag with your flour/cornmeal mixture and shake so that your slices are evenly coated.  Heat oil in a cast iron skillet.  I use a mixture of bacon grease, canola oil and lard but you can use straight  canola or peanut oil.  Once the oil is hot, carefully add the tomato slices.

Fry until golden on  both sides and drain on a rack.  Salt and consume immediately.

I know the French have their fries but give me fried green tomatoes all day long.  It's that flavor explosion of not just salt but the combination of tomato's distinct hot summer flavor on the back of the tongue fried to crunchy tender goodness.

Meet your hot Southern bar snack.  Bet they'd taste oh so good with an icy cold barley pop.

Dim Sum Sunday - Child's Play

I have not been blessed with children. Unless you count the four legged furry ones and frankly their palates are rather undefined. So my dish this week comes straight from the heart of my own tender childhood. That uniquely Southern summer treat, Fried Green Tomatoes. Yes, this is one of those dishes that makes all the work in your backyard garden worth it.
Now I can hear you from here, that's not a green tomato. Technically, no, it's not. Still it's not a fully ripe one either. I've fried green tomatoes and I just don't like how they taste. A really firm green tomato just hasn't developed that uniquely tomato tang. I want the umami of an almost ripe tomato with the firmness of a still greenish tomato. Southern sacrilege? Perhaps but since it's my plate of goodness I'm trying to achieve why not let me worry about the tomato.The next thing you'll need (on this point I will not betray my Southern roots) is a well seasoned, bequeathed in the will to the envious consternation of your siblings, honest to goodness cast iron skillet. We're talking old enough to have fried your great great granddaddy's chicken in back in the day. People, if you want to get your Southern Culinary Freak on, this is what you need. Keeps your oil at a nice even temperature. To fry my tomatoes I use peanut oil because of the high smoke point. However. I drop in a couple of generous tablespoons from my ever present cache of bacon grease to mix with my peanut oil. Set the heat to high. Your tomato slices should be cut thin and even. They will fry much better with nice even slices.
Flour, cornmeal and salt are the only coating I need for my slices. Lots of other recipes call for either a buttermilk or egg wash but I think that's crazy. Tomatoes are already moist so any coating you put on is going to stick. Just like with my onion rings, I don't want to overly bread my tomatoes. Fry quickly at high heat, flipping once. Watch closely, burned tomatoes are not something many people enjoy.
This is something many people enjoy. Golden crispy coating on the outside, tangy juiciness on the inside with just a hint of bacon. Makes your tongue dance with savory flavors. The only other thing you might need is a big ole glass of icy cold sweet ice tea. Sometimes simple things are the best. At least that's what this kid believes.