Tag: southern cooking

Pork Chop, Tomato, and Egg.

He was so ugly as a kid, we had to tie a pork chop around his neck to get the dog to play with him.—Saying from my youth

The above taunt was not directed at me, as far as I know. I may have used it a time or two, I confess.

I have a new love for the pig meat. My neighbor is a hog farmer…so endless supply. My son and his family live in a world where it is forbidden…so no supply. We load up on pork when they come to visit. There was more pork in this house than a congressional budget the last time they visited. This simple pork chop dish will be on the menu the next time they are here.

We had a left-over uncooked chop of decent size, so I wanted to use it for breakfast this morning. Now Mrs. Big Surf gets a little angst going whenever I ignore her Library of Congress-sized cookbook wing of the house. However I decided to make something simple because that is how my mind works best. This was not a ground-breaking culinary event here, just putting together simple ingredients for a good tasting dish, all the while knowing the missus could see there wasn’t an open cookbook.

I salted and peppered the pork chop and fried it in a skillet with a little olive oil. When almost done, I added some scallions to caramelize with it. In another skillet, I was frying two eggs, seasoned with EVERYTHING BUT THE BAGEL. The eggs should be over-light (or runny).

I divided the pork chop with the scallions between two plates and topped each with a slice of tomato. I placed the egg on top of the tomato with salt and pepper, topped the tomato with the egg and some green chopped scallions. To this I finished with some Maggi Hot and Sweet tomato chili sauce. This sauce is a favorite in the Big Surf house to eat with eggs.

Mrs. Big Surf was very pleased and so was I. She was so pleased in fact, that she is now in the mood for a dog. She thinks she has found a way to finally get a dog to like me.

Fried Green Tomatoes from Bobby Flay

You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food—Paul Prudhomme

Have you ever fixed a dish and, not exactly wanting it to fail, but just not wanting it to be as good as your traditional way of cooking the particular dish so you could say to the uppity chef, “See our way is better.”?

Well, this happened last night.

I love fried green tomatoes and nothing says “southern cooking” to me like a good plate of fried green tomatoes. The love being doled out by the operator of the iron skillet in preparing this delicacy would fill up a number two wash tub.

Usually there is some combination of eggs, flour, and cornmeal for the coating and of course the thinly-sliced green tomatoes have to be in just the right place in the space-time continuum on its way to ripeness. I have been frying these up for years, sometimes using only the frothed egg white for adhesion or the whole egg. Sometimes I use only cornmeal for coating but never just flour. Most folks in the south have their traditional way of serving up this dish, but no matter which way you fry your green tomatoes, you always felt it was the best way…because of tradition. Your mom did it this way or your grandma, or even your great-grandma, or just a kindly neighbor.

But along comes Bobby Flay, that brash New York chef who grew up in Manhattan. What would he know about frying green tomatoes? Well evidently, a lot. I really hate to say it but these are the best fried green tomatoes I have ever eaten.

I want to apologize for that last statement to all the southern cooks who have lovingly fed me fried green tomatoes over the years and have helped guide me into maturity at your tables, of course Mrs. Big Surf is saying that is still a work in progress.

Mr. Flay uses flour, BUTTERMILK???(not any part of the egg), and PANKO???(no cornmeal…someone help me I’m feeling infirmed). The combination of flour, buttermilk, and especially the Panko elevated these fried green tomatoes to a level of Southernness, like no other.

Sorry Marita. (Who served me the first fried green tomatoes I ever ate as a young lad and until last night, the best I had ever eaten.)

Okay Bobby, just work on losing that New York attitude and accent and I will feel better when I fix these fried green tomatoes again.