Blackwell “Blackie” Smith gives his fried green tomatoes a Southwestern twist at his restaurant, Blacksmith’s Bistro & Bar in St. Elmo.If chefs from Santa Fe, N.M., and Chattanooga opened a restaurant in Texarkana, Texas, the menu might include dishes like Blacksmith’s Bistro & Bar’s fried green tomatoes.
Blackwell “Blackie” Smith, the head chef and owner of the St. Elmo eatery, has crafted a zesty interpretation of the fried staple that uses an approach borrowing equally from Southwestern and Southeastern cuisine.
He begins by breading three slices of green tomatoes in a cornbread mix, an all-important first step that he said can make or break the dish.
“You can overbread the slices, and then you have a big, gooey mess, Or you can underbread it, and then you have a big, greasy mess that’s not crispy,” Smith said. “It’s about making sure it’s coated just right.”
Once they have been breaded, the slices sit, sometimes for as long as a day, to allow the moisture to soak into the meal to prevent them from frying unevenly.