Southern Burger Po’Boy with Fried Green Tomato, Remoulade and Bacon

I am a Texas transplant who originally hails from Mississippi.As a child and young adult, I learned how to cook delicious southern food like fried green tomatoes and I also learned about creole cuisine since Louisiana was our next door “neighbor.” I learned to appreciate good crusty French bread for po-boys and remoulade sauce instead of mayonnaise. For my perfect local American burger, I combined two cuisines of my childhood and together, the flavors pack a great southern-creole punch!

Ingredients:

3 pounds freshly ground chuck

2 tablespoons fresh minced garlic

1 TBS Cajun seasoning spice

1 teaspoon salt, plus 1 teaspoon

1 1/2 cups peanut oil

2 large green tomatoes

2 large eggs, beaten

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 loaf of crusty French bread, split in half horizontally

1/4 cup olive oil

6 Bibb lettuce leaves

8 slices of crispy cooked bacon

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup spicy remoulade sauce, store bought

Instructions:

Preheat the gas grill to medium-high.

In a large bowl, add your ground chuck, minced garlic, Cajun seasoning, and teaspoon of salt. Mix gently but thoroughly, being careful not to overwork the mixture. Form the mixture into 1 rectangular-shaped large patty, the shape and approximate size of your bread loaf. Once formed, cut large patty in half to make 2 manageable patties for grilling. Set aside to let rest.

Heat peanut oil in a large skillet on the hot grill top. Remove core from green tomatoes before cutting into 1/3-inch slices. Submerge in the beaten eggs then dredge in the cornmeal. Fry in hot oil for 2 minutes on each side until brown and crispy. Remove and let drain on paper towel-lined plate. Season with remaining teaspoon of salt immediately after removing fried green tomatoes from the skillet. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Put your 2 large rectangular burger patties on the preheated grill over direct heat. Cook burgers for a total of 6-7 minutes per side. A few minutes before the burgers are cooked to your desired doneness, brush the inside of your bread pieces with remaining olive oil and put on the grill to toast slightly. When everything is ready, assemble your burger patties end-to-end lengthwise on half of the toasted bread–top the patties with Bibb lettuce leaves, fried green tomatoes, bacon slices, and thin red onion slices. Drizzle liberally with Remoulade sauce. Top with other half of bread and cut into 2 1/2-inch slices to serve.

Serves 6