And Then I Fried Some Pickles

The one on the left is having a sexy wardrobe malfunction.

Pinterest has struck again.

As I was goofing around on Pinterest and trying to plan this weeks menu, I stumbled on a recipe for one of my guiltiest pleasures - fried dill pickles.  Now, I'm no connoisseur in the world of fried pickles - my entire experience with them starts and ends at Hooters - but I know two of my favorite ingredients, pickles and fried, are invited to the party.

Since this is me we're talking about, I all but disregarded the recipe, and did pretty much whatever I wanted.  XD

I used:
16 oz jar of dill pickle slices (I didn't use them all, I still have some marinating in my fridge!)
1 tsp dried garlic
1 tbsp hot sauce
1/2 pint buttermilk
16 oz peanut oil (or more, which is probably better.  I'm just cheap)

What I dredged it in:
1 cup AP flour (despite being told "SELF-RISING IS EVERYTHING" from my Southern friend, Amber)
1/4 cup cornmeal
salt
pepper

Dump out a little more than half your pickle juice, and add the garlic, hot sauce, and buttermilk to the jar.  Shake it up to evenly distribute, and plonk that back in to the fridge for at least half an hour.  In the mean time mix up your dredge mix.  I do this on a plate because I find it easier to mix and add all my dredge-worthy food in (and find afterwards).  Next, mix up your favorite beverage.  This is not part of the recipe.  ;)  Start heating your peanut oil in a pan.  This is a point when I wished I had used a heavier pan that retained heat better, but all my heavy pans are too large in diameter, and my meager peanut oil would have been too shallow.  I heated the oil to 350 degrees (yay food thermometer), turned the heat to low to maintain, and retrieved my pickles from the fridge.

I retrieved 6 of the pickle slices and placed them in my dredge mix.  Shuffled them around a bit to evenly coat, and started by putting 2 of them in to the oil.  This will cool your oil down, so don't overload your fry pan!  Too many pickles will cool it so much that it won't fry - you can do more pickles at once by using more oil.  Leave the pickles to fry for a few minutes - they should start to turn that delicious-looking golden brown.  Remove from the oil and place on a paper towel-lined plate to cool and allow the excess oil to drain.  Your oil should be back up to temp at this point, so put in your next couple pickles slices.  I admit, I overlapped a bit and added new pickles before the first ones were done.  And nothing bad happened at all!  :D

When your pickles are done draining and won't burn your face off, plate them up with a side of blue cheese dressing and enjoy!  I considered making some chicken wings with these, but really I'd rather just eat a double order of pickles, if I'm honest.  :D  And really, these are WAY better than Hooters' pickles.  Really.