Recipes: Fried Okra

Fried Okra

Circa: 1870's

             

            Today I am bringing you a dish that is near and dear to my heart: my grandma’s pan-fried okra! I have loved this dish since I was a little girl and it is always my first request when I get to go home to visit my family in Paris. It’s a unique recipe in the sense that there isn’t necessarily a recipe. It’s a pinch of this, dash of that, and handfuls of a great southern staple:  cornmeal!

This year Chris planted a wonderful garden in our backyard and we have been enjoying fresh tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers, and this weekend, we harvested our first batch of okra.  We also had a wonderful “staycation” and spent the weekend in downtown Houston, Texas, including a visit to the OKRA Charity Bar for delicious cocktails and fried okra!  Of course, we could only be inspired to combine the two with our Sunday night dinner! I called my grandma to get her infamous recipe, pulled out the skillet, and went to work.  Even though our’s was delicious, it will never be as good as my grandma’s.  But I think that’s how it is supposed to be! So please enjoy our take on classic pan fried okra and our serving of a little history on this classic southern dish!

                    Like so many Southern staples, the origins of fried okra aren’t exactly clear beyond simply pan frying the fresh meat and vegetables growing right outside the door.  What is clear, however, is that okra itself is actually native to Africa and came to America early in the 1700s.  It is actually a member of the Mallow family and related to cotton, hibiscus and hollyhock.  While it was originally used to thicken soups and stews, people quickly caught on to its many delicious uses!  Even Thomas Jefferson, a master gardener himself, valued okra as one of Virginia’s best garden plants.

                     With regard to the southern tradition of frying okra, the earliest recipe I could find was from 1870, and simply says “cut them in thin cross slices, sprinkle meal over them, and fry crisp.”  Apparently, not much has changed! For our recipe, we prefer to fry our okra in a cast iron skillet for extra flavor and easy clean-up, but almost any sturdy frying pan will do. You may notice that I didn't include any measurements and to be honest that's because there really aren't any. It all depends on how many people are coming over for dinner; as long as you have enough cornmeal to coat the okra you are good to go!  Finally, everyone has their own preference, but if it’s not extra crispy and slightly burnt then it’s not real fried okra in our house!