Oh, the Places We'll Go: Fried Pickles

I absolutely love fried pickles. My favorite place to get fried pickles is at Bob Baumhower's Wings-- they are to die for! In college Adam and I would go on impromptu dates there so I could get my fried pickle fix and he could get his wing fix. Ok, Ok, I got my wing fix too. This country girl likes her chicken on the bone! If my daddy taught me one thing right it was how to clean a chicken bone. I may not do it the proper way all the time, but he certainly taught me how. Whenever we had fried chicken at my house my dad would clean every single chicken bone. He would clean his, and all of ours if he didn't think we had done a good enough job. I guess when you grow up in a family with 9 kids like he did you learn to not waste anything and be grateful for what you have. My daddy is a good man :)

So turning back to the fried pickles: I have been craving fried pickles for the longest time, and well-- there is no Bob Baumhower's Wings where we live now. Because of this fact I have resorted to creating my own fried pickles and I have to say that they are really stinkin' good. They would be the perfect tailgate food if you are tailgating inside close to the frying pan, or bring your fryer out to the stadium with you like we southerners are known to do. But otherwise I'd say leave the fried pickles up to the restaurants, because like any fried food, these taste best when they first come out of the grease. So let's get started, shall we?

Here is what you will need:

1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup yellow corn meal, a heaping teaspoon of cajun seasoning, about 30 dill pickles, and vegetable oil.

Begin the process by combining the flour, cornmeal, and cajun seasoning in a shallow dish. I used a small casserole dish to mix mine.

Stir these three ingredients till the mixture looks uniform. Set it aside for a moment.

Now is when you will want to get out your frying pan, pour in enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom, and set the heat to medium. Allow the oil to heat while you are battering your pickles.

Fish several pickles out of the jar and throw them into the casserole dish with the flour and cornmeal mix.

Flip the pickles to coat.

I used a fork to press the flour/cornmeal into the pickle to make a nice thick coating.

Once the pickles are thoroughly drenched in flour/cornmeal you are ready to place them into the oil.

Test the oil to make sure it is hot by sprinkling the tiniest bit of the flour/cornmeal into the grease. If it bubbles and sizzles you are ready to start frying. If nothing happens, wait a little longer and try again.

Place the pickles one by one into the grease. Fill your frying pan till the pickles are about one inch apart from one another. As you can see mine have much more space than one inch, I simply chose to fry in smaller batches. You do it how you want.

When they are golden brown on one side, flip and cook till golden brown on the other. This should take between 5-8 minutes. Remove the pickles from the grease and transfer to a paper towel lined plate. Once the grease has drained slightly you can put the pickles on a wire rack in a 100 degree oven to keep warm until you finish frying the rest.