# uncommon ways  to cook common foods



## cal1956 (Apr 30, 2022)

this thread could also be called " cooking methods that are fading away"   most all of the vegatables we eat today are pretty much the same as it was 100s of years ago whats changed is the way we cook  it with many of the old ways fading into history  
 take Okra for example : today  we think  of okra as being breaded and deep fried , but did  you  know there is an old time way to cook it that makes it taste completely different  , i have lived in Colorado for the  past 22 years but i am from the deep south and grew up eating okra that bears  no resemblence to the breaded and deep fried okra most of you know  today . 
 the way it was prepared was like this :  with the okra cut into thin round slices add 3-4 tablespoons of vegatable oil to a cast iron skillet , spread  the cut okra evenly on the skillet , set the heat to med-high add salt and let it  simmer , as it cooks the water in the okra  will begin  cooking out and the  okra will become slimy you  must  stir often and it will  become less and less slimy  then  it will begin to  change color going from green  to dark brown and near the end of cooking will start looking somewhat black and start getting  fairly dry then just as you think its going to burn add a small handful of corn meal to  the now very dark  okra , now is when you turn off  the heat and stir in the corn meal . its now ready to serve !!!  whats  going to suprise you is that the okra is NOT slimy and has a definite sweet taste unlike any okra you have ever tasted   before .  this is a very old school way of cooking okra  that is fading into the past . last year a friend from Oregon  was visiting and i  mentioned this way of cooking okra , she said she wasn't normally  an okra eater  but it intriged  her and the next evening we invited her for supper and cooked it for her  , she sat down at the  table  ,looked at it then took a small bite , then another , a smile came across her face as  she begain to really dig into the okra , she went from  someone that didn't much care for okra before , to loving the stuff ha ha  so much so that she asked me to teach her  how to cook it , which i did the following day 
 this is just one example of an old cooking method that has fallen out of favor in these modern times . 
i am sure you have some  examples of your own


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## noboundaries (May 1, 2022)

Great story!

I grew up on the West Coast, then spent 10 years in the South and Southwest. Never had okra until living there. Loved it. Had it many ways; fried, and in soups and stews. My Texas wife fried it quite differently than they did in the deep South, but it was still fantastic. 

I haven't seen it stocked by grocers in my Cali area in years. Might have to go on a veggie hunt.


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## 1MoreFord (May 2, 2022)

My mom always made fried okra by salting it and then coating it in self rising cornmeal mix rather than breading it.  Shake off the excess and fry it in a skillet in a minimal amount of oil.  Turned out similar to the OP's version.


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## FenHoglore (Sep 6, 2022)

1MoreFord said:


> My mom always made fried okra by salting it and then coating it in self rising cornmeal mix rather than breading it.  Shake off the excess and fry it in a skillet in a minimal amount of oil.  Turned out similar to the OP's version.


That is how I make it...  use any breading / batter...  but hard to beat a good cornmeal mix. I do the same with yellow / zucchini squash.


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## Hockeydudde (Sep 8, 2022)

I'm def going to try 
C
 cal1956
 method of okra. I love okra, excited to have a new way to try cooking it.

My grandma told me a few weeks ago about her aunt's fried chicken. Don't know if it counts as lost, but I've never seen it in a cook book or Internet recipe.

My grandma grew up in Denton, Tx. Would have been the 30's and 40's. She said her aunt made the best fried chicken in the family. She breaded the chicken and fried it hot into it was browned. She then turned it all the way to low, covered with a lid, and left for about an hour. When it was time to serve, she turned the heat back up and removed the lid to crisp the breading.
My grandma said the meat was always tender and juicy, even the white meat.

I have yet to try this method because we don't have a lidded pan big enough to cook a whole chicken in one batch, but I'm in the market for a large used Dutch oven with a lid.


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## GonnaSmoke (Sep 9, 2022)

When I was growing up, okra was usually cooked one of 2 ways. Either as you've posted or in a pot of beans, such as butterbeans or blackeye peas, or soups which is when they'll be slimy. I like them both ways, but my wife doesn't like them slimy. Now we eat most of our fresh vegetables, including okra, roasted with just a little bit of salt and some black pepper.

Something I don't do, but my grandmother and mother added sugar to almost everything...


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