Frickles (fried pickles)

Fried pickles have long been popular in Texas and many parts of the South, but are now served all across the United States. “Frickles” is a new name often used for “fried pickles.” Frickles are often served with ranch dressing.
   
       
Centerpoint Station (San Marcos, TX)
Frickles 
A truly Southern treat! Hand battered pickle spears fried and served with home style ranch dressing. $4.99
     
Jake’s Dixie Roadhouse (Waltham, MA)
Frickles
fried dill pickle spears with ranch dressing   $5.95
 
29 June 1984, Wall Street Journal, “Down South, They Aren’t Afraid to Fry a Thing—Including Pickles” by John Marcom Jr., pg. 1:
H.J. Heinz Co., a major source of the recipe’s main ingredient, says hotels and restaurants are buying more pickles to make what Heinz calls “frickles.” The company thinks it can score twice. “I don’t know that it’s the world’s favorite recipe, but we don’t care as long as they use ketchup” with it, says a spokeswoman. (Mrs. Colebank says she has never seen anyone use ketchup on fried pickles.)
     
24 June 1991, Denver (CO) Post, pg. 3F:
...circulated with trays of boiled shrimp, bratwurst on a bun, fried cheese sticks, rumaki and frickles (deep-fried pickles).
   
10 May 1992, Denver (CO) Post, pg. 9B:
“We’ll have everything from stuffed mushroom caps to frickles (fried pickles),” Seymore said.   
 
Google Books
Portmanteau Dictionary:
Blend Words in the English Language
by Dick Thurner
Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
1993
Page 59
frickles n. (fried + pickles) Fried pickles, a snack food popular in the southern United States.
       
Google Groups: alt.tv.x-files
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From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Jen)
Date: 1998/08/07
Subject: Re: ATXF EXPOSED

>> 24.  You’re on your way to the electric chair.  What’s your last meal?
I doubt I could eat.  Frickles (battered fried pickles) and jalapeno poppers. 
 
Google Groups: alt.tv.x-files
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From: “Jen (is not a potato)”
Date: 2000/08/11
Subject: Re: OT: Appetizer suggestion
   
On Thu, 10 Aug 2000 23:17:15 GMT, in alt.tv.x-files the esteemed .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Boondoggler) opined pensively:
>Fried dill pickle chips.  (An Elvis favorite.)
Are they?  My favorite local brewing company serves these (okay, so there’s only one brewing company locally.  Details).  They call them Frickles and I LOVE them.
   
>Dip pickle chips in egg whites, cover with cornmeal fry.
My place (no, I don;t own it, but I wish I did) dips the pickles in some kind of light beer based batter.
 
>Serve with honey mustard sauce. 
And serves them with a creamy parmesan dill dressing.  YUM. 
 
BookLoons Reviews
Grilling America
by Rick Browne
Order:  US   Can
Regan, 2003 (2003)
Hardcover
Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth
 
Grilling America shares the best in ‘Que’ that Rick Browne and his wife Kathy discovered in five years of travel across America’s heartland. ‘No longer is GREAT BARBEQUE indigenous only south of the Mason-Dixon Line. World-class pork ribs can be found in Seattle, Syracuse, or Sacramento. Today, whole hogs, once the exclusive domain of the Deep South, are barbecued in pits from Rockport, Maine, to Rock Port, Missouri, to Rockport, Washington.’
 
Starting with detailed instructions for getting your grill ready and judging its temperature without a thermometer (chancy in my view), this wonderful cookbook moves on to recipes and to Rick Browne’s mouthwatering photographs. The Appetizers section offers Armadillo Eggs - actually stuffed jalapeno peppers. How about Frickles? Can you believe Fried Pickles? I honestly would like to try them. Or Martini Oysters - Martinis are drizzled over the grilling oysters. Let the party begin.
     
Ain’t too proud to blog
Trivia - in Kentucky they call them Frickles (Fried pickles) & eat them on hamburgers. It was one of the first things that made me not hate Louisville. 😊 Still not as good as the Mississippi style ones from my childhood, but good.
¤ ¤ credit: Cis | 01.24.03 at 01:40 AM
       
essays & effluvia: Food and Drink
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Frickle!
This evening, I had a Frickle.
 
When it was described to me, I blanched, crinkled my nose, and asked what other appetizers where available. But Matt convinced me, and I must admit it was much much better than I expected. (The New York Post hated it)
 
What’s a Frickle? Its a lighty battered, deep fried, Lower East Side pickle, served with a dijon dipping sauce. It is—most astonishingly—quite good. 
   
Virtual Weber Bulletin Board
Keri C
Posted August 07, 2004 07:58 PM
 
FRICKLES - FRIED PICKLES
1 bottle hamburger dill slices
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
1 teaspoon BBQ rub
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup beer
 
Combine the flour and cornmeal (50/50) and season with your favorite BBQ spice rub. In a small bowl make a slurry of the mustard and beer.
 
Dip the pickle slices in the mustard-beer mixture and then in the flour-cornmeal [personally, I prefer to shake the pickle slices in plain flour first, THEN into the slurry, THEN into the flour/cornmeal - kc]. Deep fry 5 to 6 pickles at a time at about 370º degrees until the batter is browned, about 30 seconds. Pickles will float to top when done.

Serve hot with cold beer, with ranch dressing as a dip if desired. Serves 4-6.
 
Recipe from Steak Out in Fairfield, Texas, as shown on Barbecue American Episode 203  
     
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Frickles (Fried Dill Pickles)
Published on: 01/31/06
10 servings
Total time: 35 minutes
 
Instead of frying chips, try using spears. They are easier to handle when cooking for a crowd.
 
1 (16-ounce) jar dill chips
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of your favorite rub
2 tablespoons beer
1/4 cup yellow mustard
2-3 cups oil
 
Drain dill pickles in a colander and set aside. Meanwhile, in a shallow bowl or pie pan, mix the cornmeal, flour and rub together; set aside. In a small bowl, mix beer and mustard together. Dip pickles into beer/mustard mixture and then coat with cornmeal/flour coating. Place pickles on a cookie sheet. Heat oil in skillet or deep-fat fryer until 375 to 400 degrees or oil is shimmering. Test-fry one pickle to see if it browns quickly. Gently place pickles one at a time into the hot oil mixture. Pickles will come back to the top when they are done. Remove with a slotted spoon or slotted turner. Drain on paper towels and serve hot. (Do not try to fry too many pickles at one time as they have a tendency to migrate to other pickles rather than fry individually.)
- From Rick Browne, host of PBS’ “Barbecue America”
 
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From: margaret suran

Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2007 19:12:37 GMT
Local: Sun, Jun 24 2007 3:12 pm
Subject: NY Times Article About Fried Foods And State Fairs
 
The Basics
Deep-Fry, and Don’t Forget the Stick
By RICK LYMAN
Published: June 24, 2007
(...)
In Florida, deep-fried pickle slices are called Frickles.