{College Football Saturday} Fried Pickles

It's college football Saturday!!!  My favorite day of the week, because I am at home with A Team instead of at work and it means football food!  And a girl from the South just isn't having a real game day without fried pickles.  There just isn't much tastier and I have been challenged to make these and get batter to stick, etc., until now.  Now I have it and I am never letting it go!!  These are so tasty and could be used with pickles, pickled jalapeno slices, Wickles, etc.  (If you don't know what a wickle is, darlin' please PM me.  I need to open the door to something wonderful for you!)

So let's start out with saying this recipe has 3 parts that are key.

1 - Make sure you dry off the pickles first.  Just take them out of the jar and lay them in a single layer on a paper towel and then pat the top dry with another paper towel.  This will help the batter adhere much better.

2 -  This is truly a wet batter and not just a dredge in flour or cornmeal.  Again key.

3 -  Make sure your oil comes up to temperature each time.  It will lower when you add in a batch of food, so allow that to cook and remove it and then let it return to 375 degrees, before adding in the next batch.  This keeps everything cooking crispy.

So let's fry it up!

Get your oil on the stove in a heavy dutch oven.  I am using my 5 quart cast iron pot from the Pioneer Woman with a thermometer fixed to the side to keep up with the temperature.  I highly recommend a digital just because of the ease of reading.  This was fairly inexpensive at Walmart.  When heating your oil, you don't have to fling the burner all the way to high either.  It will take longer to get to temperature, but not blast off the stove either if you use medium to medium-high. :)  Remember knobs on the stove don't just go from off to high!  Learned that from Emeril.  I used vegetable oil for frying, but peanut also works great if you don't have a sensitivity/allergy.

Also note I have a lot of oil in this pot, because we were also frying wings (you can see those to the right of the pot).  You could use about 2 inches of oil for just these pickles with no problem.

Mix the batter, which consists of all purpose flour, water, cajun seasoning, Italian seasoning, and cayenne pepper.  You are going to mix the dry and then add in about 1/2 cup of water and stir.  The batter will be sticky like cookie dough at this point, so add a bit more water, about 1/4 cup at a time until it whisks smooth, but thick like a pancake batter.  Probably almost a cup total will end up being added.  You will be cooking up about 2 cups of pickles, so we are going to cook in batches.  Add in about 3/4 to 1 cups of pickles to the batter and toss around with your hand to coat.

You will shake off the excess and place the pickles in the full temperature oil and allow them to fry for 1 to 2 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on a paper towel.  Allow the oil to return to 375 degrees F and repeat with remaining batch.  Serve immediately with Ranch for dipping.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of pickles, dried on paper towels
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 tsp of Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
• water

Recipe

• Fill a heavy dutch oven about 2 inches deep with oil and allow to heat to 375 degrees F.
• Combine flour, cajun seasoning, Italian seasoning, and cayenne pepper in a bowl. Whisk together.  Whisk in about 1/2 cup of water.  Continue to add small amounts of water (about 1/4 cup at a time) and whisking until the batter is smooth like pancake batter.  
• Add 1/2 the pickles and toss with your hand to coat with batter.
• Shake off the excess and carefully place the pickles in the oil. 
• Fry for about 1-2 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove from oil with slotted spoon and allow to drain on paper towel.
• Allow oil to return to 375 degrees and repeat with remaining batch.
• Serve immediately with Ranch for dipping.

Enjoy!

Love~ 

Misty