sparkling husband dude likes tomatoes from New Jersey

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x88489

Oh my.

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jul-30-11 08:10 PM
Original message
 
Fried Green Tamadas - Yum!

Our local produce stand had some massive green tomatoes. I bought one. Must have been 1-1/2 lbs. I got four honest 1/2 thick slices, even after trimming the top and bottom.

I shook the slices in a brown paper bag with flour in it. I then dipped them in an egg with a few table spoons of milk. From there, they went into a mix of panko breadcrumbs, raw grits (the slow cooking, old fashioned kind), salt, pepper, and lemon pepper. A good bit of lemon pepper.

I fried them in a cast iron skillet on the side burner of the grill while I did the flap meat "steak." I got them golden brown. Drained them on a cake rack for a few minutes and called it done.

I've made FGTs many times. I always used corn meal. The panko and grits changed the texture a lot - all for the better. Nicely crisp and crunchy. The lemon pepper changed the whole taste profile, again for the better.

beac  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jul-30-11 09:08 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. Sounds like a winner!

Extra points for creative use of grits.

Do you know if the tomato you bought was an unripe red or a ripe green variety?

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jul-30-11 10:10 PM
Response to Reply #1
 
2. It was an unripe red. There was juuuuuuust a bit of red starting on the bottom.

Also, it was from the same farm as all the tomatoes they were selling. They had lots of the same variety, fully ripe. I didn't ask, but I think the few greens they had were "mispicks" (mistakenly picked before ripening).

Funny thing abut the grits. Obviously they're corn, just like the traditional corn meal in which FGTs are fried. But the texture in this application was actually more interesting to the bite. I think I'll experiment with the grits in other applications, too.

beac  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jul-30-11 10:49 PM
Response to Reply #2
 
3. Do keep us posted on any new gritventures.

I may not embrace all my Southern heritage, but I do LOVE me some grits!

grasswire  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jul-30-11 11:00 PM
Response to Original message
 
4. do you get any of those eastern shore tomatoes, stinky?

I have always read that they are something special, along with the melons.

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Sun Jul-31-11 12:05 PM
Response to Reply #4
 
6. These were very local, not Eastern Shore.

I brought back some melons and tomatoes when I was on the Eastern Shore week before last. This wasn't a banner year. The local stuff is actually much better this year.

Actually, the very best tomatoes seem to come from New Jersey.

Callalily  (1000+ posts)      Sun Jul-31-11 08:57 AM
Response to Original message
 
5. To be honest, I've never had fried green tomatoes, and yours do sound scrumptious!

Zoigal  (1000+ posts)        Sun Jul-31-11 07:59 PM
Response to Original message
 
7. Sound great. I love fried tomatoes but haven't tried the totally green ones.

Panko crumbs sound good,too. Never have acquired the taste for grits though. Will try the green ones......

[FreeBorn]

Wow, boldly venturing forth from Gotham into the burly wilds of the wilderness that is New Jersey. Such brave souls exhibiting great feats of derring-do!
Low and behold, fresh produce and grown in real dirt too! Observing the primitives is like watching monkeys use tools for the first time.

Citiots...

[GOBUCKS]

You have to be a super ultra way cool chef before you can call fried green tomatoes "FRGs".

It's even beyond "EVOO".

I just hope that was panko bread crumbs and not cat litter.

[franksolich]

You have to be a super ultra way cool chef before you can call fried green tomatoes "FRGs".

It's even beyond "EVOO".

I just hope that was panko bread crumbs and not cat litter.

Allegedly the sparkling husband dude took his skills he learned as a hash-slinger in the U.S. Navy 1965-1967 and turned himself into a professional chef, and now, a "restaurant consultant."

Now, being of Italianate derivation, he's probably actually a pretty fair cook.

But I don't think he's in the "restaurant consulting" business; I still think he's in the restaurant protection racket, given all his ties with the d'Alessandro crime family of Baltimore and its allied Pelosi crime family of San Francisco.

[Ballygrl]

I don't want to brag, but we really do have the best tomatoes in the Country.

[franksolich]

I don't want to brag, but we really do have the best tomatoes in the Country.

I'm curious about something, madam.

Where in New Jersey would they grow tomatoes?

It sounds like growing wheat in Massachusetts or raising cattle in Delaware.

[Ballygrl]

I'm curious about something, madam.

Where in New Jersey would they grow tomatoes?

It sounds like growing wheat in Massachusetts or raising cattle in Delaware.

Almost everyone we know grows their own tomatoes, plus we have tons of farms in Sussex and Warren County and I'm sure there are a lot of farms in the Central and Southern part of the State. We think it has something to do with the soil, the beefsteak tomatoes are the best. We used to have a garden in our yard but a disease must of infected our soil and that had an effect on the tomatoes, so we've been growing them in planters. Also corn grown in Warren County is some of the best you'll find in the State. Like I said, we think there's something in the soil, it's kind of like New York City having the best food because of the water.

[GOBUCKS]

I'm curious about something, madam.

Where in New Jersey would they grow tomatoes?

It sounds like growing wheat in Massachusetts or raising cattle in Delaware.

New Jersey is ruined by its northeastern quadrant, where infection from New York City has spread. It spoils the political climate of New Jersey the way Cook County spoils Illinois. The rest of the state is just far east Pennsylvania, with lots of farmland and woods.

One of the best Sopranos episodes was filmed in the Pine Barrens, which is a wilderness area.

[DumbAss Tanker]

What GOBUCKS said.  South of Trenton and east of the Turnpike, it is actually a pretty nice place, mostly small towns (More dense with them than most of the rest of the US, a bit like central Europe in that regard) and lots of farmland, with some very sizable chunks of forest/nature reserve too.

[Delmar]

Do the people from rural New Jersey talk with the same or similar accent as the people I know from TV and movies from New Jersey?  I knew people from the area in the Navy, but I thought they were all urbanites.  Now I'm not so sure.  I can't picture someone looking like Mr. Ziffel from Green Acres but talking like Joe Pesci.

[DumbAss Tanker]

No, that's an urban thing, NYC Metro area mainly...an Italian-American urban thing at that.  The other ethnic groups there may have their own distinctive cant, but only the Italian-Americans or wannabees would sound much like Pesci.  In the southern half, they just speak generic middle American English, same as Ohio, Kansas, Pennsyltucky, or anywhere else above the 'Southern accent' line.

[GOBUCKS]

I am shuah the catbox squattah sounds, and dresses, exactly like My Cousin Vinny, even if he lives in Maryland.

[Ballygrl]

Do the people from rural New Jersey talk with the same or similar accent as the people I know from TV and movies from New Jersey?  I knew people from the area in the Navy, but I thought they were all urbanites.  Now I'm not so sure.  I can't picture someone looking like Mr. Ziffel from Green Acres but talking like Joe Pesci.

OMG! NO! People in the NW part of the State where I live and where DainBramaged lives, we speak with what I think is more a Pennsylvania accent, even though I'm from NY I never had a NY accent, although half my family speaks with a NY accent. The Northeastern and Central part of the State is where you'll find people who talk like the Sopranos and say "youse" guys like Joe Pesci does in My Cousin Vinnie.

[JakeStyle]

The best tomatoes in the world were grown by my Great-Grandma Eddie in her garden in Sheldon, Illinois.  I remember her calling me and my sister in for lunch when I was a kid and just being gobsmacked by how delicious her BLT sandwiches and salads were.  I have never found a tomato that comes close to what she grew.

[FreeBorn]

OMG! NO! People in the NW part of the State where I live and where DainBramaged lives, we speak with what I think is more a Pennsylvania accent, even though I'm from NY I never had a NY accent, although half my family speaks with a NY accent. The Northeastern and Central part of the State is where you'll find people who talk like the Sopranos and say "youse" guys like Joe Pesci does in My Cousin Vinnie.

I agree, the New York City accent is unique to the greater NYC metro area, perhaps as far as Hoboken but generally It does not extend into New Jersey. Yes, folks in Northeast Jersey do have an accent but it is instantly discernable from the raspy attitude driven NYC squawk. Mom's sister Betty and her husband, uncle Roger lived in Wayne, right in the heart of northeast Jersey. They did NOT have the NYC accent. Theirs was much more pleasant to hear, the same as what you would hear throughout New England. My mother was born in Jersey at Point Pleasant but moved to Upstate New York as an infant with my grandparents so she has the usual "could be from anywhere" non accent. My grandfather's sister, great aunt "Honey" and her husband lived all of their lives in Atlantic City (they actually owned a small cruise line which plied the east coast) and she had the Jersey/Boston/New England accent. I never got to meet her husband, passed before I was born.
When I'm around main st. in Geneseo, a college town just up the road from here with many students from NYC I can instantly pick out that NYC rough and gruff squawk more than a block away. People from Jersey don't sound at all like that.

BTW, I love your sparkly new banner, Ballygrl. ^5! 

[ScubaGuy]

Almost everyone we know grows their own tomatoes, plus we have tons of farms in Sussex and Warren County and I'm sure there are a lot of farms in the Central and Southern part of the State. We think it has something to do with the soil, the beefsteak tomatoes are the best. We used to have a garden in our yard but a disease must of infected our soil and that had an effect on the tomatoes, so we've been growing them in planters. Also corn grown in Warren County is some of the best you'll find in the State. Like I said, we think there's something in the soil, it's kind of like New York City having the best food because of the water.

I used to live in Hunterdon county, surrounded by corn fields and never in my life did I have such an easy time growing a great garden.

NJ does have some of the best tomatoes and white corn.

There's a lot more to NJ once you get away from I95 and the metro areas.

[Ballygrl]

I agree, the New York City accent is unique to the greater NYC metro area, perhaps as far as Hoboken but generally It does not extend into New Jersey. Yes, folks in Northeast Jersey do have an accent but it is instantly discernable from the raspy attitude driven NYC squawk. Mom's sister Betty and her husband, uncle Roger lived in Wayne, right in the heart of northeast Jersey. They did NOT have the NYC accent. Theirs was much more pleasant to hear, the same as what you would hear throughout New England. My mother was born in Jersey at Point Pleasant but moved to Upstate New York as an infant with my grandparents so she has the usual "could be from anywhere" non accent. My grandfather's sister, great aunt "Honey" and her husband lived all of their lives in Atlantic City (they actually owned a small cruise line which plied the east coast) and she had the Jersey/Boston/New England accent. I never got to meet her husband, passed before I was born.
When I'm around main st. in Geneseo, a college town just up the road from here with many students from NYC I can instantly pick out that NYC rough and gruff squawk more than a block away. People from Jersey don't sound at all like that.

BTW, I love your sparkly new banner, Ballygrl. ^5! 

The New York accent is heavily prevalent throughout the State because of relocated New Yorkers, the ones with the accents though tend to settle in the Northeast and Central part of the State, whereas the NW part of the State gets a lot of New Yorkers but for some weird reason the accents tend to be not as severe or non-existent.

Thanks about the banner!

[Ballygrl]

I used to live in Hunterdon county, surrounded by corn fields and never in my life did I have such an easy time growing a great garden.

NJ does have some of the best tomatoes and white corn.

There's a lot more to NJ once you get away from I95 and the metro areas.

Yep! we loaded up on some corn yesterday and waiting on the tomatoes to start turning. We're not crazy about fried green tomatoes though.

[Wineslob]

The New York accent is heavily prevalent throughout the State because of relocated New Yorkers, the ones with the accents though tend to settle in the Northeast and Central part of the State, whereas the NW part of the State gets a lot of New Yorkers but for some weird reason the accents tend to be not as severe or non-existent.

Thanks about the banner!

I used to love visiting relatives in Highlands/Sandy Hook, NJ. The locals would hear us talking and invariably say "Youse talks funny, where youse from?"     

I have no idea what a Cali accent sounds like, but I seem to have one?

[Ballygrl]

I used to love visiting relatives in Highlands/Sandy Hook, NJ. The locals would hear us talking and invariably say "Youse talks funny, where youse from?"     

I have no idea what a Cali accent sounds like, but I seem to have one?

My Cousin was moving back east from the western part of the US, his girlfriend now wife is from New York like we are, she has a HEAVY accent though, they were driving through Texas and stopped at some tourist places, they were at a place and the guy who worked there heard her talk and told her to hold on a sec, he ran and got some co-workers and asked her to start talking again, he started laughing and said he always thought when he heard the accent on TV that it was fake and couldn't believe the accent is real.

[franksolich]

I used to live in Hunterdon county, surrounded by corn fields and never in my life did I have such an easy time growing a great garden.

NJ does have some of the best tomatoes and white corn.

There's a lot more to NJ once you get away from I95 and the metro areas.

Actually, I'm aware of that too, having lived in Fairlawn many moons ago.

But while I lived in New Jersey, which has some of the nicest people one can ever hope to meet, I never really "explored" the state, pretty much isolating myself in the upper northeastern corner, always going to New York City.

As for tomatoes, I'll take everybody's word on it--to me, a tomato is a tomato is a tomato is a tomato, whether it comes from New Jersey or Texas or the William Rivers Pitt here.  Just round globular red vine-grown fruit.

[AprilRazz]

Shame on Little Lord Litterbox for not supporting local farmers. Does he have any idea of all the greenhouse gases put into the air bringing his tomatoes in from Jersey?

BTW there is something in the soil on the eastern shore of Maryland that fruits and vegetables just love. I miss going to the roadside stands and picking up some of the best sweet corn available and melons as big as your head and sweet as sugar.

[AllosaursRus]

I'm curious about something, madam.

Where in New Jersey would they grow tomatoes?

It sounds like growing wheat in Massachusetts or raising cattle in Delaware.

the only thing I thought NJ was famous for was the hazardous waste! Now we know what they're doin' with it!!!!

They're growin' 1 1/2 pound cherry tomatoes!

[Ballygrl]

the only thing I thought NJ was famous for was the hazardous waste! Now we know what they're doin' with it!!!!

They're growin' 1 1/2 pound cherry tomatoes!

LOL, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the toxins in the ground that make our tomatoes so good.

[GOBUCKS]

LOL, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the toxins in the ground that make our tomatoes so good.