Last night for supper, I made up some fish, and to go along with it, fried pickles.
Av loves fried pickles…
His favorites are from Ezell’s Fish Camp in Lavaca, Alabama:
These are from somewhere else…not quite as good because they’re so thin and there’s so much extra crust:
These were a mostly cornmeal crust:
These came from a barbecue place in Fultondale, Alabama where they fry the whole spear:
The secret to really good fried pickles is that the pickles are cut thick enough to stay “pickley” and of course that they not at all be greasy. These turn out great…
- In a skillet, put oil on to 350*.
- Prepare a plate with paper toweling so the finished pickles can drain well, and set the oven to 200* so that if you’re doing several batches, or if they will be done a little earlier than other things, they can stay nice and warm.
- For every two people, you need one whole pickle (if you’re serving this as a side dish). For this recipe, I really suggest Claussen because they really do stay crisp. Cut into nice-size piec
- The egg wash ratio is: one egg to one cup of milk. This egg wash is enough for at least six or seven pickles (12-14 servings):
- In a Ziploc bag, put enough flour (or cornmeal, or a ratio of cornmeal to flour that you like) to coat the number of pickles you’re cooking plus seasoning – the amount of seasoning is going to be different for every family according to taste…but we like things pretty spiced-up, so I put several great-big dashes of Tony Chachere’s in the bag. If I weren’t using Tony Chachere’s, it would be something like cayenne pepper plus garlic salt and pepper. None of this is exact – it’s just whatever looks and sounds good:
- Put the pickle pieces in the egg wash:
- Remove them with a slotted spoon so the extra egg wash can drip off, then place the pickles in the ziploc bag and shake to coat. Shake, shake, shake.
- Make sure the oil is at 350* (if you put them in at a lower temperature, they will soak up the oil). Lift each pickle piece out of the bag separately and gently place in the skillet to fry:
I use an electric skillet to fry in sometimes, just to make certain the oil is kept at a certain temperature without me having to think too much about it.
The pickles only take a few minutes on each side (get one side golden brown, then flip to the other side). Place the finished pickles on the plate with the paper toweling, and place that in the 200* oven to stay nice and warm while everything else finishes.
Oh these turn out so great! Super-crisp and not at all greasy. Yum!
If these are for an appetizer, they can be served with a nice dip – remoulade or comeback sauce is nice.