Topic awaiting preservation: Preparing/Cooking Okra (Page 1 of 1)

A bit of an odd topic, perhaps, but my wife brought home two packages of okra from the supermarket the other day. The girl who was selling it had no idea what it was or how to cook it, and nobody was buying it, so she gave my wife two packages for the price of one. (Oh, the reason my wife bought it in the first place is that she once had a student from Alabama who went on at length about how much she loved okra. This piqued my wife's curiosity and--well, let's just say that if my wife were a cat, her nine lives would have run out a long time ago.)

Anyway, being of northeastern U.S. origin, I had never even seen okra before, let alone eaten it. The one cookbook my wife has from the States had one okra recipe, and it didn't look very appetizing. So she asked me to look up some recipes for okra on the net and see if maybe she couldn't stir fry it. I did find one stir fry recipe and she just tried it out for lunch. The results were disappointing. In fact, they were virtually inedible. Granted, my wife didn't follow the instructions to the letter (for example, the recipe said to slice the okra thinly, but she cut it into 1cm wide chunks, and I wonder if that might have been the problem), but still. The little beans inside the pods were tasty enough, but the pods themselves were very tough and stringy. So stringy, in fact, that I could not eat them and had to spit them out rather than subject my poor digestive system to the vegetable equivalent of hairballs. We concluded that something must have gone wrong, as the vegetable is apparently very popular in the southern United States (and elsewhere).

So, to any natives of the southern United States (or other okra-eating regions) out there: is okra usually this stringy? If so, how do you prepare it so that it's actually edible? Are you supposed to peel it or something? If not, how can you tell edible okra from the stringy stuff? Any other tips and/or favorite okra recipes would be appreciated, as two packs of okra is significantly more than I had first thought.

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Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

[homer] mmmmm... okraaaaaaa........ .... WooHoooo! [/homer]

That stuff grows pretty well out here in OK. They way i *really* like it is when it is fresh and fried at home. It is really quite easy to do.

Get Okra, chop off the topper thick bit, and trash it. Then slice it up pretty thin. (As in a couple centimeters thick, tops.)

Salt just enough to get all the okra a little salty, then mix it with just enough corn meal to cover it all... (The salt draws liquid out of the okra which makes the cornmeal stick) Then dump a little olive oil in a pan and fry away. I usually cook it fairly slow. I hate the actual cooking part. It needs to be crispy but not burned when finished, and a little salty. not too much though. (also i dont deep fry it, just use enough to get the jobber done.)

*Actual quantities may vary.

oooh, Fried Okra



(Edited by eyezaer on 08-10-2005 07:07)

Okra pods do end up pretty tough, that's why they should be picked when they're quite young.

Like most vegetables you can do lots of things with it, but the most popular preparations are probably fried, boiled, raw (fresh), and pickled. Fried is probably the most popular, especially in the south (which makes sense ).

http://tinyurl.com/8lgpc

Thanks for the tips, guys. Judging by what reisio said, though, I'm guessing that these okra are already too old, considering how tough and stringy they are. Maybe we'll try boiling them, but I'd imagine that there's really little we can do at this point. After all, stringy fibers have formed, and I don't think any amount of boiling is going to make them palatable.

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Get Okra, chop off the topper thick bit, and trash it. Then slice it up pretty thin. (As in a couple centimeters thick, tops.)

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That's interesting. When I think "thin," I think maybe a couple of millimeters thick. A couple of centimeters sounds pretty thick to me.

And I'm wondering if maybe slicing them up real thin might not help break up the fibers.

I'll have a look through some of the fried okra recipes and see if something catches my eye, but my family is not really into fried foods (stir fry is another story entirely, as it involves far less oil and is done quickly). Although izzay's version sounds healthy enough, if I can just figure out where to get some cornmeal around here.

If all else fails, we'll feed it to the chickens. They'll eat just about anything.

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Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

Fried okra is usually sliced to about a centimeter...'bout the size of a die.

I ahd no idea what okra was until my grandma put it in shrimp gumbo, which to me seems like a spicy stew, it was good though. I'm not a big fan of fried okra, and being from the Northwest US, I had never seen it until Army Basic in South Carolina, I'm not a fan. Just differences in taste between north and south, which would explain the southern love for grits.

Gumbo Recipe
Here's a recipe I found online for the gumbo. Now, is it just me, or is it a little stereotypical to have a site with recipes that claims to be "The Voice of Women"?

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Quidquid Latine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur ~
Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound

Yeah...reisio and eyezaer are both quite correct. Has to be pretty fresh, if not it gets a little tough. But eyezaer's suggestion is my favorite way of having it done. Funny...my girlfriend just cooked some of this the other night. Quite yummy

Later,

C:\

Living in Alabama I can tell you fried Okra rules ! The boiled is "snotty" and covered in slime YUCK ! We slice it, salt & pepper it, mix a little flour with our corn meal and coat the okra with the mixture, fry it in hot oil until golden brown and crisp. I have also baked it after preparing it the same way to cut down on fat grams We also use it in gumbo and throw a few small whole pieces in a pot of fresh peas.
If your okra is tough then I would ditch it. It won't be good.

It sounds as though you might have sliced it lengthwise, not across. This would have you chewing on long fibres instead of little short ones.

The slime okra exudes when boiled or fricaseed, thickens whatever it is in and that is one of the reasons it is used in stews and gumbos, to act as a thickening agent.

I must admit, it is not a veg I would willing use or even taste again, but each to their own.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
Isaac Asimov
US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

I *hate* Okra, with a passion, that borders on psychopathic! It is right up there, with beets and eggplant.

This coming form someone, who will eat just about anything, as long as it tastes good - but believe me, Okra does NOT taste good! *bleh*

There are those who like it - np. Eat it.

Just keep it away from me!

Izzy and Shii hit the nail on the head. Fried okra is great. It's been so long since I've had any, but Izzy's recipe sounds pretty close to what i remember.

*** When i said centimeter i did mean 2-3 millimeters.

Any restaurant that i have ever ordered okra at has always serves it as heavily breaded centimeter long bits. I like it thinner and crispier.

If it's a little older I'd try the Gumbo route. It's a long slow stew so it should tenderize it up pretty well..


And yumm..... gumbo good.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

another kid from alabama says fry it up in knuckle-sized chunks



Do you serve a purpose or purposely serve (Corey Taylor)

I was raised in Georgia. We often had fried okra. Pickled okra is very good, and it's also great in gumbo, but under no cercumstances should you boil it. It turns into a slimy mess that should be avoided all together.

Try slicing the okra crosswise in very thin slices (less than half a centimeter) to get rid of most of the toughtness. Then fry it as eyezaer suggested. Also the pods should be no thicker than your ring finger (about one to one and a half centimeters) or they will be tough.

See if you can find some poke weed to go with it

.



-- not necessarily stoned... just beautiful.

Raeubu: Thanks for the link.

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Shiiizzzam said:

If your okra is tough then I would ditch it. It won't be good.

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That's what I was afraid of.

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Diogenes said:

It sounds as though you might have sliced it lengthwise, not across. This would have you chewing on long fibres instead of little short ones.

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My wife did cut it across, but that still left us with centimeter-long fibers that absolutely refused to be masticated. I eventually had to just spit them out when I got tired of chewing.

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eyezaer said:

*** When i said centimeter i did mean 2-3 millimeters.

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Ah, that makes sense. And it does sound tasty. That's one option I'll keep in mind.

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bitdamaged said:

If it's a little older I'd try the Gumbo route. It's a long slow stew so it should tenderize it up pretty well..

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That's another option I'm going to keep in mind. I've always wanted to try gumbo.

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hyperbole said:

Also the pods should be no thicker than your ring finger (about one to one and a half centimeters) or they will be tough.

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Well no wonder! Some of these pods were really big, like two or three centimeters across.

Sorry for the long quote-reply post, but I wasn't expecting so many responses. Thanks to all, and I'll let you know how things turn out. I'll try to cook something up on the weekend--maybe fried okra if I can find some cornmeal, gumbo if I can't.

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Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

I am working in Nashville, TN, this week, and at lunch today, two of the people I was with had fried okra. It was about a centimeter or more thick (before the breading) and they didn't seem to have any trouble chewing it up. I didn't try any, but I probably should have. One of the people with us was a woman from Nashville. She said she would never eat it boiled!

fried okra kicks_all_ass

I like izz and shi's recipes but my breading involves cormeal and saltines pounded into powder

the saltier and deep friedier the better, and dip em in peppered cream gravy, and and daggum I'm hungry

OK, despite the fact that all this carrying on about fried okra really makes me want to try it, the wife has vetoed any frying. So it looks like we're going the gumbo route. There are plenty of gumbo recipes on the net, including the one raeubu was nice enough to link to, but if any inmates have a favorite gumbo recipe, I'd be willing to give it a try.

___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

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...but I wasn't expecting so many responses

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Now you'll be a little more prepared for the next time you ask a question about food where there's a bunch of Suth'ners

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the wife has vetoed any frying

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we don't live forever you know, and not eating fried okra is just not living anyhoo

Fried okra is good. I'd eat it anytime! But people don't eat okra up north (Michigan), I just remember it when I was down in Alabama. That's one of the few reasons I like Alabama.

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JKMabry said:

we don't live forever you know, and not eating fried okra is just not living anyhoo

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Well, 'round these parts, when the wife vetoes something, I usually don't rock the boat. We may not live forever, but I see no reason to hasten the inevitable doom.

___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

LOL hear hear Suho... been there, done that, lost a few years
(the wife thing that is, not the Okra, that's not even available up here in Sweden afaik)
/D

{cell 260} {Blog}
-{Proudly running OSX, Debian, WXP, W98, well not so proudly on the last 2...}-
-{ ?There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence. - Jeremy S. Anderson" }-

The odious, slimy pod is readily available here in Canada...well ay least my part of BC, usually fresh and always in cans.

Despite the paroxysms of gustatorial orgasm the "Suth'ners" have been enjoying here, I am personally still unable to see any reason to allow it in the same room as food.

Of course, one must keep in mind, these are folk accustomed to chowing down on boiled cornmeal (suitable, in more civilized parts, only for fattening hogs or coating back-bacon) "greens", another slimy, over-cooked concoction closely resembling boiled spinach;http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/CollardGreens.htm and deep fried pig guts...truth is, I'd like to try the pig guts;http://www.chitterlings.com/chitterling.html



Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
Isaac Asimov
US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

Actually, collard greens are really good. At least the greens I've had. Virgil's in New York has greens as one of the side dishes they offer (you get to pick two with most of the barbecue dishes), and I always choose the greens and cornbread (or sometimes the greens and the baked beans, if I'm feeling particularly vengeful) when I'm in town (because a visit to NY invariably means a visit to Virgil's--it's hard to get good Western-style barbecue in Korea). (Gee, I think I got carried away with the parentheses there..)

Not sure about deep fried pig guts. It would probably be easier to just cut myself open and shove lard into my arteries by hand. On the other hand, I'll eat just about anything when it comes to meat (or meatish substances). I'll eat just about anything on four legs (although preferrably not while it's still standing on those legs, as most animals tend to get upset when you stick your fork in them).

Still hoping for some Asylum gumbo recipes. No Google links--I'm talking secret recipes here!

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Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

Mmmmhhh...Greens, Cornbread (homebaked) and Baked Beans...hopefully, with molasses and hicory smoked ham chunks in it...

*drools*

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But people don't eat okra up north (Michigan)

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Got to agree with that. In these parts, it's mushroom season as oppossed to okra season. Man, nothing like a big fat serving of fried murrels.

Is this what you mean? http://www.morels.com/

Yah, damnfine! That's real food.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
Isaac Asimov
US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

LOL, yeah, that's what I mean.
Looks like someone hit the motherload . . . motherlode?
Heh.

fried morels are quite possibly my favorite food period

I can find them about 1 week out of the year here if I'm extremely lucky

I cook my gumbo without a recipe. I'll try to walk you through it.
My Seafood Gumbo

I brown flour in hot bacon grease to make my roux base. I then add chicken broth and white wine slowly, stir constantly so it doesn't lump or stick. Add diced onion and chopped tomatoes. Let it cook until the onions are almost done.
I then add okra (Fresh or frozen), crab meat and shrimp. At this point, I add Old Bay Seasoning, little salt and pepper and a Zartain's Crab/Shrimp boiling bag. I like to put about 1/2 tsp. of Cayenne pepper in. Omit this if you like it whimpy. Add the minute rice. Let it boil just until the shrimp are a nice rich colored pink. Remove boiling bag. It's now ready to eat. I serve it with long crunch loafs of french bread.


Another Favorite of mine for when I have a pool or lake party is

Shrimp Boil

18 - 20 small red potatoes, cleaned
1 doz. med. white onions, peeled
2 lbs. Polish sausage, cut up into sm. chunks
1 doz. 3 inch ears frozen corn (Green Giant)
Crab Legs
4-5 lbs. raw shrimp in shell without heads

Prepare a large pot of water (add salt to taste), add:


3 pkgs. Zartran Crab Boil

Bring to boil, add little red potatoes, boil 6 minutes, add onions. Bring to boil for 2 minutes. Add corn, Polish sausage and crab legs. Boil 12 minutes. Add shrimp, boil 2 minutes, remove and drain. Cover table with news papers, pour pot contents into center of table. Use paper plates, forks and fingers. Food will be all gone and cleans up easy. Serve with french bread and white wine or beer.

Shazam! Shiiizzzam! Sounds very good. Only thing is 1/2 tsp of cayenne IS wimpy. Tablspoon'd be better and maybe some other peppers as well, just to give it body.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
Isaac Asimov
US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

heh, I like mine hot. It's the guest I try to meet in the middle

Wow, Shii, great recipes! Thanks!

A few questions, though:

What does Old Bay Seasoning consist of (in general)? I'm not sure what that is, and I don't know if we have it here in Korea.

Ditto with the crab/shrimp boiling bag. I'm guessing that it's a bag with crab and shrimp parts to give the broth more flavor. Am I close?

And... minute rice? Is this quick cooking rice? If so, we probably don't have it here. Oh, and I'm guessing this is long grain rice, right?

As for the cayenne pepper, well, this is Korea. If it ain't spicy, it ain't fit for human consumption.

___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

Crab/shrimp boiling bags come in a box and are like large tea bags full of spices. Old Bay Seasoning is for extra flavor and doesn't have to be used.
Minute Rice is a name brand. It's just fast cooking rice. You can use whatever type you like. You can cook the rice in a sperate dish and add it last or serve the gumbo over the rice.
http://www.mccormick.com/recipedetail.cfm?id=1016 Old Bay info and a photo and recipe for that shrimp boil.