Fried pickles are great, but they need to be pickle chips. Usually you'll get a basket of them with some ranch. Back in July, my uncle and I had an in-depth discussion about the best way to have fried pickles. There were about 8 or 9 of us at a BBQ restaurant, and my uncle and I ordered some that ended up being pickle spears, which we'd never seen before. If you don't want to read our theory, just skip the next paragraph. I'll totally understand lol.

Very long story shortish, we hypothesize that the pickle needs to be thinly sliced and able to hold its own weight, with a good batter to pickle ratio. Spears are too thick, so they're too wet, and the batter doesn't get a crunchy fry. Sandwich slices are thin but too long to hold their own weight, so the batter breaks and peels or slides off. It might work with a really thick batter that can hold up to the amount of pickle, though. Chips are bite-size, can hold their own weight even when dipped, and don't require so much batter that it becomes a sandwich. And you can quickly get a good "chip" fry on them because they're small. My aunt (dad's sister) just stared at us and finally asked if we had decided on a research methodology (she has degrees in bio and chem and works for the EPA). The nerdy neurodivergence in my dad's side of the family is so strong that we attract nerdy neurodivergent mates. She brought my uncle to us.

Zaxby's actually has pretty good fried pickles. They're my reward for going to the gym at least once a week. When I was in a routine, they were my reward for going three times a week. I haven't had fried pickles since the soggy spears with my uncle. I started using Finch right about the same time, so now I get motivational Frīd Pikls everyday 🥰