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Fried Green Tomatoes

Fried green tomatoes are sliced, seasoned, coated in egg and cracker crumbs, then fried until golden, served with optional meats or as a vegetable.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut green tomatoes into thick slices.

  2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  3. Roll in egg and cracker crumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in deep cottolene until golden brown.

  2. Serve with bacon, broiled ham, or other meat, or as a vegetable.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Ham + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Egg + hamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Tomato + meattop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,438 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Pepper + meattop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Firm, tart slices that hold their shape and soften slightly under heat.
Egg
Binds the cracker crumbs to the tomato slices so the coating stays on while frying.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the hot fat.

The step that matters

Frying in deep fat until golden brown. The fat must be hot enough to brown the crumb coating quickly. If it is too cool, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy before the tomato inside is tender.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, egg, ham, meat):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, egg, ham, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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