A Southern delicacy....

[Michael Cody]

Don't know 'bout you southern boys, my dad was from Harlan County, KY.. but up here we are eating fresh green beans w/bacon, red potatoes, fresh sweet corn, cukes, tomatoes (all from the garden) and fresh blueberries for desert.... that's good eats.. Some pork chops w/it are on the menu for tonight, fresh off the grill! Next week or 3 it's moving to fresh pears & peaches then into apples right off the tree.. ya'all know SW Michigan -- orchards are our thing up here!

Have to admit I don't like okra all that well, but the rest sounded real good. Okra in soup is fine though, and I love fried catfish & hush puppies...

[Bob Childress]

Shoot. I tried to stay off this thread, but can't. Last night I fried some okra right form our garden along with chicken-fried steak. A heart attack on a plate! But was it good. The tomatoes are coming so fast now that we are making sauces and freezing them for winter. Same with squash casseroles. And corn on the cob. Will be nice to have when the colder weather sets in.

[Michael Stafford]

Michael, I bet you would find fried okra fairly easy to swallow. The boiled and stewed variety is not my cup of tea either. Looks like green mucilage with seeds in it....Feels worse in the mouth.

Those foods you described are all fine fare. I am very fond of my wife's green beans that she has doctored up with some sauteed bacon and onions. Mighty fine!!! Some folks around here will top off their green beans/string beans with chow chow a hot pepper and onion relish that is also an acquired taste.

Bob, the corn, tomato and okra soup freezes wonderfully and makes a delicious lunch in the cold Winter months. It is really good.....

[Russ Filtz]

(My DAD was a nationally recognized "master baker "
Bruce

Bruce, you can't say that in a public forum!

[Al Willits]

"""""""
fried okra is also a Southern delicacy....Been eating it all my life.
""""""""

Kinda like Lutefisk huh???
Me thinks its another one of them, Ya gotta develop a taste for, things, like grits too...

Wilson was great to watch, made the mistake of making some of his gumbo once, and putting the required amount of hot sauce in it....whew!
Tasted great but it took 2 weeks for the insides to heal...

Buried the remaining gumbo next to the buried Lutefisk from X-mas of 1965, I'm sure they'll be happy together...

Al

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Wife learned to make hush puppies while we lived in Mississippi for 4 years. Youngest son was born in MS. While we were in Brunswick GA, the yard of our apartment building had 2 pecan trees. The LOML learned to make scratch pecan pie. Yumm! Now those nice folks in MS tried 100 and 1 ways of fixing boiled okra in trying to get me to like the stuff. Yuck! Finally aboard a ship in Charleston, SC I got introduced to fried okra! Yumm! Then the last 24 years here in Idaho...my next door neighbor is from LA/AR. He learned to cook from his mom. Well....he fixes some cajun dishes that have boiled okra in them......Yumm! Night before last the wife fixed homemade fried corn fritters for supper. Yumm!

The LOML did do something kind of funny however. Last year, our neighbors both retired school teachers, took their 5th wheel trailer and were touring the east coast with some friends. Ron, from LA/AR often plants okra. The LOML comes in.....they're gone and I hate to see that okra go to waste.......I replied.....I don't remember Ron planting any this year......She said OH yeah! and they'res a lot of it and we are expecting frost tonight. I hate to see it go to waste. I said....Show me......Folks my neighbors HAD planted 8 different kinds of peppers. Some of them extremely hot! My wife doesn't know the difference between peppers and okra! My wife had picked all of those pepper plants. I told her....You'd better call Ron and Betty on their cell-phone and see how you fix that okra. She called....I could hear our neighbors laughing across the room and I'm nearly deaf! You don't want my wife fixing your boiled OKRA!

[Mike Wilkins]

Will you adopt me??
My mouth was watering just reading your post. I have not had a meal like that in years.

[Michael Cody]

You know this thread needs Pic's to do it right. This is a quickie but it represents the summer fair here in MI (3-4 night a week anyway)!! I didn't get the fresh cukes & tomatoes -- sorry. But it's all from the garden I keep @ my mom's... (I live in a walnut grove so nothing grows here to well!)

[Michael Stafford]

"""""""
fried okra is also a Southern delicacy....Been eating it all my life.
""""""""

Kinda like Lutefisk huh???
Me thinks its another one of them, Ya gotta develop a taste for, things, like grits too...

Wilson was great to watch, made the mistake of making some of his gumbo once, and putting the required amount of hot sauce in it....whew!
Tasted great but it took 2 weeks for the insides to heal...

Buried the remaining gumbo next to the buried Lutefisk from X-mas of 1965, I'm sure they'll be happy together...

Al

Be careful how you talk about grits. Them is fightin' words. Andy had grits at the ParrBQ and now I hear he is having someone ship him a 5 pound bag weekly he became so enamored with the butter and salt you put on them. See Al you don't eat grits because of how the grits taste. You eat grits because of the other stuff you put on them. The best grits have red eye gravy on them. What is red eye gravy you ask? A wonderfully delicious concoction of coffee and fried country ham leavings and grease...Guaranteed to raise your bad cholesterol by 30 or 40 points. A lot of folks eat grits with butter and salt and pepper. A few Yankees that have been relocated to the South eat grits with milk and sugar, they mistakenly think it is cream of wheat or oatmeal. We just shake our head and say pass the butter.

Of course one of the real delicacies is fried grits. You cook your grits as usual, let them get good and thick on you and pour them into a buttered casserole dish. Let them set up real good in the refrigerator overnight. Then cut them into squares like you were cutting brownies or something. Then dredge them in some batter of your choosing and deep fry the whole thing. Good stuff and low calorie I hear....

Oh, come on Al, lutefisk is something the possums will not eat....Lutefisk makes roadkill palatable....

Now you have to be careful with hot sauce particularly if you are taking your cues from some of those Cajun and Southwestern boys. They make sauces that are so hot that they are dangerous. Some of those hot sauces from Texas are better paint removers than Moxie... And that is a true story...

[Andy Hoyt]

Sorry Mike, but it would appear I've finally caught in an untruth.

You're correct when you say that the only true purpose for grits to exist is to serve as a delivery vehicle for butter and salt. But the only point on that vehicle's route map is the garbage can. Them things is nasteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[Joe Pelonio]

Whoooaa, now let's slow down a minute. I'm no southern boy, born in San Francisco, now in the Northwest, but we eat grits often. My wife cooks them with smoked cheddar cheese and garlic in them. Mmmmm. I have not tried deep frying in batter but do cut up and fry the leftovers, if any, in the skillet to crisp up the edges and get the cheese crusty.

[skip coyne]

Sorry Mike, but it would appear I've finally caught in an untruth.

You're correct when you say that the only true purpose for grits to exist is to serve as a delivery vehicle for butter and salt. But the only point on that vehicle's route map is the garbage can. Them things is nasteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

maybe youve only had instant ..which I agree are nasty .

cooked grits the real thing ..are great , personally I dont put much on them just eat the grits ...

grits along with homemade biscuits (the eatin kind , not ther wood joionin kind ) smothered with sausage in milk gravy ...thats a breakfast ...

[Michael Stafford]

Sorry Mike, but it would appear I've finally caught in an untruth.

You're correct when you say that the only true purpose for grits to exist is to serve as a delivery vehicle for butter and salt. But the only point on that vehicle's route map is the garbage can. Them things is nasteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

All I have to say is that I was sitting across the table from Andy when he had his first bite of grits....The look on his face was equivalent to the look on one's face when having their first colonoscopy....I held the menu in front of my face to protect from potential blowback....

Joe, you are very correct, there are many folks who make cheesy grits as you described and they are delicious. Thanks for the reminder.

[Andy Hoyt]

Yup you were there. So tell me, were those good grits or bad grits?

As for whether charboiled, deepfried, boiled. or microwaved grits are best - well, I'll just let Joe Pesci determine that.

[Michael Stafford]

Yup you were there. So tell me, were those good grits or bad grits?

As for whether charboiled, deepfried, boiled. or microwaved grits are best - well, I'll just let Joe Pesci determine that.

Andy, those were average grits. Not the best I have had and not the worst... I guess they have to grow on you....