Few side dishes can evoke romantic notions of southern cuisine the way these little fried salty and tangy slices do. You might think “hey, what about potato salad?” But there’s more variations of potato salad than there are states in the union. They even serve potato salad in the North, clearly this can be no ambassador of southern cuisine they way our humble cornmeal crusted friend can! Heck, there’s even an academy award nominated movie called Fried Green Tomatoes. I’d like to see a potato salad get nominated by the academy…not likely.
Why do we eat them? Well, first of all cause they’re darned delicious. But a more thoughtful approach to this question is warranted. Why eat unripe tomatoes? The southern United States climate is perfect for growing fat, juicy tomatoes. So well inclined actually that tomato plants often bear so much fruit that their delicate limbs can’t hold up all those great tomatoes. So what do we do? We pick some of the tomatoes off the plant to allow it to maintain its vertical nature and keep that fruit off of the ground. It’s a pruning process. Who got the idea to take these little tart tomatoes, slice them, fry them and then cover them in all manner of fixings? I don’t know, but I’d sure like to thank them.
Here at Harry’s, we start with the freshest quality green tomatoes delivered daily. Then we slice them not too thin, and not too thick. Instead of the old tried and true cornmeal breading, we take a little twist on the corn tradition and bread ours with our signature seasoning blend and then crumbled up corn flakes. The corn cereal keeps with tradition while allowing a subtle sweetness to balance the tomatoes acidity. After we fry them, we top them with rich chipotle aioli and then fresh feta cheese. If your hungering for some of that good old flavor of southern nostalgia, come on by and try some!
~Chef Bennett
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