Fried Green Tomato Time

My husband looks forward to the fall when it is too cold for the rest of his tomato crop to ripen—giving him the perfect excuse to make fried green tomatoes.

This southern specialty— immortalized in the book and film of the same name—requires thickly sliced green, firm, and slightly tart tomatoes. The sliced tomatoes are dipped in eggs, flour, and breadcrumbs (my husband throws in a little cornmeal), then fried in very hot oil until they are delightfully crunchy.

Beer is always a great partner with fried foods but today just seemed like a wine day. The tomatoes are somewhat oily from the frying, so the appropriate wine would need adequate acidity to cut through the oil and to complement the natural acidity in the tomatoes.

Albariño was the first thing that came to mind—specifically one from the Portuguese region of Vinho Verde (which literally means green wine). Here the grape is called Alvarinho and the climate produces crisp, light-bodied whites with flavors of tart apples. But to my dismay there was not a Vinho Verde in sight. I was sure I had one tucked away somewhere.

So we settled on an Austrian Grüner Veltliner, a white wine from the grape of the same name. The Gobelsburger 2008 from Kamptal (a region in lower Austria) is light and crisp with a tang that is part tropical fruit, part mineral, white pepper, and salty brine. The sense of a slight prickle on the tongue (a characteristic often found in Vinho Verde) was the perfect match for the crunchiness of the tomatoes.

Tags: wine | food | fried green tomatoes