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Okra

Mayhaw Man

By Mayhaw Man
in Food Traditions & Culture

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Potter

Potter

Posted
Posted

Let me tell you something. YES. I like em fried and in gumbo and in soup. I like em dried on the plant and used as a house decoration. I just opened a jar of Talk O' Texas Okra Pickles and they are yummy. I almost had a thrombo when I saw these at my local NJ A&P.

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auntdot

auntdot

Posted
Posted
Let me tell you something.  YES.  I like em fried and in gumbo and in soup.  I like em dried on the plant and used as a house decoration.  I just opened a jar of Talk O' Texas Okra Pickles and they are yummy.  I almost had a thrombo when I saw these at my local NJ A&P.

Potter, totally agree (have already been counted as enthusiast though, but if they want to count me twice, so be it).

Two years ago, not knowing anything about the plant, put in two okra plants (we have very little space for a garden, and did not know what to expect).

Found out they were lovely plants with beautiful flowers, but we could rarely get enough produce to make a recipe for the two of us.

Wish we had room to put in more plants.

The okra kept going into the fall long after the other plants had bellied up from the cold.

May put one in this year, love the pretty flowers.

Fortunately the local stores and farmer's markets always have plenty of okra in the spring and summer, and can often find it in the off season.

Was not aware there were still A&P markets anymore.

Grew up with them and as a kid worked in a competitor.

Thought they had all closed.

Just a thought from one okraphile to another.

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  • 5 months later...
Mayhaw Man

Mayhaw Man

Posted
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Posted

It's been a while and we have lots of folks around, soooo, it's time to bring it up again.

America's most controversial topic.

Okra? A simple yes or no will do.

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man"

There's a train everyday, leaving either way...

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Mayhaw Man

Mayhaw Man

Posted
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yes! all the way!

ps.  i had no idea that okra was so controversial...

There will be world peace before there is agreement about Okra, the most controversial of all vegetables.

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man"

There's a train everyday, leaving either way...

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racheld

racheld

Posted
Posted

"Cut in wheels and fried in meal." My favorite Grandmother's reference to a pan of fried okra. It was a wonderful introduction to a lovely vegetable, and served to be my introduction to oysters, as well. I'd SEEN those hideous gray/black little quivery creatures, and could not imagine that anyone had ever got up the nerve to eat one. But fried, they looked OK....doesn't most anything? Everyone said, "Try one---see, it's just like fried okra." And it kind of was.

And okra is just scrumptious. Gently steamed on top of a pot of field peas with a big hunk of ham or bacon, the tiny pods tender and melty to the tongue, with some of the flavor of that smoky pot of peas. Wheeled and fried in either meal or flour, a mixture of both, or even one of those fishfry mixes in a pinch (or in someone else's kitchen).

Tiny circles afloat in the rich brownred gumbo, holding their own amongst the seatang of the shrimp and crab, adding a deep earthy flourish to the dish.

And even as my Mammaw cooked it, a strangely concocted dish of pods, stems intact, steamed THEN meal-rolled and fried, lending a rather lizardly look to the daintily-arranged golden delicacies with their long greeny-brown bodies and tails. The outside was crisp, salty, perfect, then the melting, creamy interior richness. Never had it that way before or since. Guess it was her own recipe.

And pickled!!!! Salty and crisp and tangy with good vinegar and the snap of red pepper. I watched admiringly once as a lady who was to be our hostess at a cocktail party in her suite at a VERY grand hotel in Washington unpacked a small case. It was red leather with shiny brass fittings, and looked worthy of jewels or State secrets or at least caviar. To go with the lovely spread and bar she had ordered from the hotel, out of the case came three pretty home-canned jars from her own Southern garden. One of thumb-sized baby green eggplants, brined with garlic and herbs, and two pints of pickled okra.

So I vote YESSS!

Fairy Tea

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Bond Girl

Bond Girl

Posted
Posted

Absolutely, positively YES!!!! Okra steamed with a bit of salt, okra with jalapeno, tomatoes and corn cooked in a stew serve over rice, okra stirred fried with Indian spices, and, Monica Bhide makes a killer deep fry okra....

Ya-Roo Yang aka "Bond Girl"

The Adventures of Bond Girl

I don't ask for much, but whatever you do give me, make it of the highest quality.

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Smithy

Smithy

Posted
Posted
1.  Why is okra even an issue in this day and age on

this forum?  :smile:

With a good recipe and a good cook it's

sublime and with a bad recipe and lousy cook it's vile.

So, just get a good recipe and learn to cook,

which is what this group  is all about, no?

Do I sense an Okra Cook-off thread coming?

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
Host, eG Forums - nsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx; twitter.com/egullet

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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anzu

anzu

Posted
Posted
Yes fried, yes stewed with tomato, No plain boiled.

Ditto for me.

seriously?

does anyone actually cook / serve / eat plain boiled okra?

but why?

:shock:

milagai

I used to think this too, until I saw how the Japanese treat plain boiled okra. Basically, just blanch whole pods - definitely don't overcook. Eat cold, dipping one at a time into a sauce of your choice. In Japan, my friends make this with a thick sesame sauce.

It's good.

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nan

nan

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Posted

Definitely yes! I have fond memories of my great-aunt making me "little french fries" every time I came over (and you can be sure I asked for them every time I came over). I wish I had written down how she made them - someone's quote about "cut in wheels and cooked in meal" sounds about right.

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joiei

joiei

Posted
Posted

Yes, and my last mouthful came from the Crawfish Hole outside Minden, LA last weekend just off the interstate, I would of ordered another order except I was too full.

It is good to be a BBQ Judge.  And now it is even gooder to be a Steak Cookoff Association Judge.  Life just got even better.  Woo Hoo!!!

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rosebud

rosebud

Posted
Posted

Yes; especially the fresh, little ones from the Farmers' Market steamed 5 minutes and served whole with Hollandaise sauce. This idea came from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings book "Cross Creek." I also combine it with onions, garlic and tomatoes. One of the great treats of summer.

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