Fried Pickles?? It's A Southern Thing....

Before moving to Tennessee, I had never heard of fried pickles. The thought of them seemed kind of weird, even scary to me. But I saw a post about them on the WC board and on Courtney's blog so I decided to made them for Jamie....I like a couple of pieces now and them, but Jamie loves them.

FYI, since living here I have learned a couple of things about Southern cuisine:

* Deep fried food is good;

* BBQ is not burgers or pizza, as Wikipedia states: "The term as a noun can refer to foods cooked by this method, to the cooking apparatus itself, or to a party that includes such food. The term is also used as a verb for the act of cooking food in this manner....and initially revolved around cooking pork";

* Beans & Greens are common side dishes;

* Sweet tea is a favorite beverage.

So...back to the fried pickles, I made two batches, since I am not that familiar with frying things. The first batch when using the batter mixture as stated, kind of fell off the pickles. So I added in a little more flour and cornstarch until the batter was thicker. Jamie liked the latter batch better, although I thought the batter was too heavy. Next time, I would find a happy medium between the two. Either way, they were really good!

Fried Pickles
from Cook Like A Champion & Science of Cooking

* I cut the batter ingredients in half, as I was not making that much
* I added some more flour and cornstarch to make the batter thicker

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup ice water
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons dill pickle juice
4 cups dill pickle slices, drained I used about 10 pickle spears, sliced lengthwise once so they were thinner
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

-In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center.
-All at once, add the water, egg yolk and pickle juice.-Stir the mixture with a wire whisk to make a smooth batter.
-Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
-In a deep fryer or large saucepan, heat at least two inches of oil to 375°.
-In batches, dip pickle slices into batter, lightly and evenly coating them.
-Without crowding, place coated slices in the hot oil.
-Fry until golden and crisp, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.-Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

Serve with fat-free ranch dressing....LOL...just kidding, at this point, go for the full fat version!