Memories gone awry...
I think that just about everything I feel about food was established by both my grandmother and mother. My grandmother was a plain little old lady with very basic tastes. I don't remember many "instant" foods in her house when I was a child visiting with her during the summers and holidays. One of my most favorite foods that I hardly ever eat because of how it is prepared, is fried okra. Now stop groaning and saying things like "that's gross" or "eek, it's slimmy". I hate grits but I love okra. Go figure.

I haven't talked a lot about our little suburban garden but we actually got to pick some okra last night. I had big plans for the 8 little pods we picked. I was going to cut them up...and make it the same way I vaguely remember it being done when I was 5. Yes, that was a very long time ago. Memories, fade or just flat out go away.

So I remember that the okra was always rolled in corn meal and then fried in grease in a black cast iron skillet on a very old gas stove. I had the corn meal and I did toss the okra in it. I don't have a cast iron skillet but hey, it's only a skillet right? So I whipped out the Revereware skillet and poured some Canola oil. I have an electric stove but it does get pretty hot when I crank it up. I was not going to be bogged down in little details from my 5 year old memory. I trudged on. Then I fried the okra.

I took a piece and ate it. No, it wasn't quite right. Something was missing. Not enough corn meal was sticking to the okra. Okay, what can I do to make it more sticky (like the stuff isn't slimmy enough?) I cracked an egg and dipped out the frying pieces. What was I thinking? I was going to make this work if it killed me. After the half greasy and very hot okra was covered in egg, I put the stuff back into the skillet to fry some more.

I made a HUGE error in cooking judgement. Once the okra was fried to a nice brown, I fished it out of the oil and let it drain on a few layers of paper towels. I got my trusty fork and took a bite again. GAG. It was tough and had no taste of okra. What a huge disappointment! I will not be beaten by okra. So now I have to go and buy a cast iron skillet, season it and try all over again.

I would post the final picture of the fried okra but for some reason I can not seem to post any pictures since I first started this blog entry. Typepad is looking better and better everyday!

Stay tuned for more...