Fried Green Tomato's And Grandma's Green Tomato Chow Chow Relish

Fall will soon be upon us. Our gardens may be filled with green tomato’s. You can always use some of them up by serving up fried green tomato’s. Still you may want to consider making Chow Chow {green tomato relish}.

Wait! Don’t turn up your nose and say ‘yuk’ until you have tried them! They taste great, a good way to use up excess tomato’s. Many people prepare them the same way they would prepare squash or egg plant for pan frying.

Fried Green Tomato’s

They taste great, a good way to use up excess tomato’s. Many people prepare them the same way they would prepare squash or egg plant for pan frying.

I stole this idea from an Italian sidewalk cafe in far northern Italy, Lake Como area, whether it be fried green tomato’s, okra, squash or egg plant, grate a little ‘real’ Parmesan cheese on them just before serving. {Don’t even think about using that stuff in a can, doing a bad imitation of Parmesan cheese}.

Ingredients
3 medium, firm green tomatoes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
2 beaten eggs
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or cornmeal {Being from the Southwest, I like cornmeal}
1/4 cup olive oil (canola oil if you prefer}
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt and pepper. {Important Step} Let tomato slices stand for 45 minutes or more to drain excess water. Meanwhile, place flour, milk, eggs, and cornmeal/bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes.

Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Dip tomato slices in milk, then flour, then eggs, then cornmeal/bread crumbs. In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 4 to 6 minutes on each side or until golden brown. As you cook the rest of the tomatoes, add olive oil as needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Grate a little ‘real’ Parmesan cheese on them just before serving.

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This is the way my grandma and mother did it, and of course it’s the way I fry them green tomato’s.

ORIGINAL SOUTHERNER’S FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

fresh green tomatoes
flour, cornmeal or 1/2 flour and corn meal mix
salt
pepper
vegetable oil

Slice tomatoes about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. Spread on plate. Sprinkle salt evenly over tomatoes. Continue placing tomato slices in layer over previous layer and sprinkle with salt until all tomatoes have been salted. IMPORTANT: Let tomato’s set at room temperature about 4 hours. This removes water from tomatoes so that they will cook up nice and crispy.

Remove tomatoes from container, rinse off excess salt. Mix flour / cornmeal mix, with a little salt and pepper (to taste) in bowl. Coat each tomato slice with flour/corn meal. Let them sit 15 to 20 minutes.

Heat oil in a skillet to medium high. Place tomatoes in oil. (Reduce heat when necessary). Let tomatoes brown on one side, then turn and brown on the other. When tomatoes are a golden brown, remove one at a time and place on paper towels to drain.
Serve while still warm from your frying pan.

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Chow Chow

This comes from my great grand mother’s recipe note book. She had little formal education and her hand written notes are at best a bit cryptic. Sometimes she used terms, plants, herbs and spices that we are not sure just what she was talking about. I’m sure many of them are wild plants that she harvested and used in feeding a husband and 9 hungry kids.

She was born in Mississippi in 1870. She traveled to Texas by wagon in 1889. She always complained that it took the better part of one summer to travel from Mississippi to Texas, and that she walked all the way. Not sure but I’ll bet she rode part of the time.
All of her families possessions were in that one small wagon to include her pride possession her wood burning cook stove. She cooked on that stove until the kids, grand kids and great grand kids remodeled her kitchen in the late 1950′s. Bless her, she passed away at 98 still complaining that her food tasted bad cooked on a propane gas stove.

Back to my recipe problem. The best we {all of us kids, when I say kids – I’m the oldest and I’m 65} can tell this is her Green Tomato Chow Chow recipe. Those of you not from the south, chow chow is a name used in association with sweet green tomato based relish.

Grandma’s CHOW CHOW
1 peck green tomatoes about {12 or 15 pounds}
5 lbs. strong yellow onions {don’t use those taste less sweet white onions}
1 large head of cabbage chopped
5 lbs. sugar
5 red hot chili peppers {you need at least 3 of these and more if you like your chow chow hot and spicy}
2 cups chopped sweet green bell peppers (about 4) {I like more as many as 6}
2 cups chopped sweet red bell peppers (about 4) {add 6 if you like the red bell peppers}
1 cup pepper weed seed {no one seems to knows what this is so it is omitted from our chow chow} Maybe it’s something that grew wild in Mississippi.
2 or 3 tablespoons mustard seed
1 tablespoon turmeric
3 tablespoons celery seed
1 package of pickling spices
About 1 qt. of cider vinegar

Slice or dice tomatoes and sprinkle with 1 cup salt, place them in a clean old white pillowcase and hang them from a close line pole over night. {This will remove most of the green tomato juice from your bag of sliced green tomato’s} I’ll bet wrapping your sliced tomato’s in cheese cloth would work just as well.

Chop all vegetables and combine in a large kettle. Stir in salt, let stand at room temperature overnight, or at least 8 hours. Drain well.

In the morning rinse and drain green tomato’s and other vegetables only once. Using a meat grinder, {or course chop by hand} coarse grind tomatoes, onions, peppers. In a large pot, add sugar and spices or {wrap spices in a cheesecloth} and add to mixture. Add enough vinegar to almost cover. Cook uncovered over a very low fire for 4 hours.

Using juices from tomatoes and onions. Fill hot sterilized canning jars to 1/2 inch from the top process in water bath and seal. Makes 8 to 10 pints. Note: Sterilize jars in a boiling water bath insuring jars are completely covered with water.

Process in a boiling water bath for 15 to 20 minutes. Allow jars to cool over night. Check to insure all jars sealed properly. Any jar that did not properly seal should be refrigerated and consumed with in a week or so.

Not from the USA. Please leave me comment about your home town and country.

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