Fried Okra!

Well I finally did it! After years of singing the praises of properly made southern fried okra, its incomparable crunchy cornmeal exterior and sweet okra interior where the seeds give a satisfying chewy pop in your mouth, I finally made it myself. I did attempt a scientific comparison of two batters, but unfortunately in my excitement about cooking the okra and eating it as soon as it cooled enough to be manhandled, I actually forgot to keep the batches separate and couldn't tell the difference. While I might be tempted to lament this lack of conclusive data, instead I will rejoice at the excuse to repeat the experiment again :)

I bought fresh okra and sliced it about 1/4-1/2" thick. I used Paula Deene's recipe instructions to soak the okra in buttermilk, then dredge in a combination of flour and cornmeal. I did one bowl that was 2:1 flour to cornmeal, and another bowl that was 1:1 flour to cornmeal. In the 2:1 bowl, I used a cajun spice mix and in the 1:1, I used salt. Having a slotted soon is essential for this!

After dredging, fried in canola oil in a skillet. GLORIOUS. The key thing is adding enough salt to the batter, although you can always try to correct by seasoning with more salt afterwards. I also stirred milk into the leftover flour/cornmeal mixture and made up a dough that I fried in the remaining oil :) Next time I will add an egg so it turns out a bit more like a hush puppy!