This is my wife, Holly’s, Fried Green Tomatoes recipe. It’s her family recipe that she had frequently while growing up in Southern Indiana. It’s a hearty, simple no frills version that I’ve gown to love.  The only thing I’ve added is oregano; and I’ve combined olive oil, canola oil and butter for the frying rather than just frying it in Crisco as in the old days. It’s a basic dish of eggs, flour, salt and pepper. That’s it. And that’s another point on which Holly is adamant. In her family, it was always flour that was used for breading, not breadcrumbs or cornmeal or anything else.

The origins of fried green tomatoes have change since I first had it down south during my young manhood. It is now claimed that the dish is not southern in origin.  For example, the dish is mentioned in the International Jewish Cookbook by Florence Kreisler published in 1919. And there is a recipe for it in a 1902 cookbook, 365 Luncheon Dishes, published in Philadelphia. According to Robert A.  Moss, author of The Fried Green Tomato Swindle and Other Southern Culinary Adventures, the only Southern  mention of the recipe that he could find was from a 1944 Alabama newspaper. Southern dish or not,  it’s a great and unique dish. I mean, who would ever think of frying green tomatoes? A lot of folks, it seems.

Ingredients:

3 large green tomatoes, rinsed and wiped dry with paper towels
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup canola oi
3 tablespoons butter

Instructions:

  1. Slice tomatoes ½-inch thick. Discard the ends.
  2. Lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl. Pour the flour onto a plate, and season flour with salt, pepper and oregano.
  3.  Dredge tomato slices in flour and then dip in egg mixture.
  4.  In large skillet, combine olive oil, canola oil and butter. Heat over medium heat. Fry tomatoes in batches. Do not crowd tomatoes and they should not touch each other. Cook until browned on one side, 3-4 minutes. Flip and fry on the other side. Drain on paper towels.
    Yield: 4 servings.