Okree
On tour at the Franklin Farmer’s Market, the best reason to get up early on Saturday morning. It’s the real deal. All organic. Every farmer brings what he has actually grown. One of the purveyors is Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese. Kenny Mattingly has been producing artisan cheese on his farm in Barren County, Kentucky, since 1998. His newest is Tomme, a cheese I’d never heard of that is traditionally made in the Swiss Alps. It’s like Brie with a bite. Had to have me some of that, even at $7 a block. Then over to Twin Forks Farm’s bread stand. David Tannen used to grow vegetables, but took up baking a couple years ago. His Raisin Bread is a dense pound and a half loaf with whole wheat and rye flours, orange juice, orange zest and anise added in. So now I’m thinking a grilled cheese sandwich with the Tomme and the Raisin Bread would be pretty terrific.
Then on to get tomatoes, green peppers and, last, okra (or as they say in the back of beyond, okree). The okra will get a bath in milk, then into a bag (paper, of course) with cornmeal, salt and pepper, and into a hot pan of oil. Fry until crispy. Nothing better.
[…] South in My Mouth writes about her experience with Southern fried Okra or okree as she and my grandpa call it. And The Bitten Word give ya’ll a recipe to experiment with. What’s your experience with okra in Africa or the South? […]
Hello, dearie. I love, love, love your blog. I have been reading your past entries aloud to Burns while sitting here, and I’m inspired to fry some “ocree”, whip up some pimiento cheese, and am now dying to make one of your tomato sandwiches. Burns is salivating all the while.
The recipe you cite is from Granny Belle (Annabelle Anderson), my great-grandmother, born in 1889 in rural East Tennessee. Belle never measured any ingredient in her life, so I can’t give you the proper portions. You just have to dump enough corn meal into the paper “poke” to coat the okra thoroughly. If it doesn’t look well-enough coated to you, dump in some more. Hot oil is key, otherwise, the corn meal soaks up too much grease.