Lost Recipes: These 1916 dishes are anything but 'medi-okra'

To me, okra is one of those foods that just doesn’t look like it should taste so good. At church dinners, it’s my “go to” vegetable — especially if it’s cooked by a little old lady who truly knows how to fry it crispy in cornmeal and season it.

Soggy okra just doesn’t seem right to me.

But there’s more than one way to eat okra, and back in 1916 the Montgomery Advertiser published a variety of styles courtesy of the Country Woman’s Corner column. I’ve ready several of these and they’re all interesting — though they were clearly written for women of the day. The author’s name wasn’t revealed, but she (or he) has a few words of okra preparation advice:

• Never cut the stem end of okra down to the seed before cooking. It’ll get slimy and boil into pieces.

• Always boil okra in salt water.

• A little vinegar while cooking will help keep okra from getting gummy.

• Don’t let your okra boil after it is already tender enough to pierce with a fork. It’ll quickly boil into pieces.

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Here are the Country Woman's Corner okra recipes:

Riced okra

• 1 ? cups of cooked rice

• 1 pint of okra

• Onion

• Garlic (optional)

• 1 cup tomato pulp

• 1 cup tomato juice

• Spoonful of corn starch

• Salt

• Pepper

• Drippings to fry okra in

Cut the stem ends from the okra, and then slice them into rings ? inch thick. Fry them in drippings — bacon grease, salt meat drippings or even lard — until tender. Remove the okra from the pan, and add a little more fat to the pan. Add some thinly sliced onions, some garlic if you want a stronger flavor, and cook them until they’re caramelized. Add the tomato pulp and juice that’s been thickened with corn starch. Stir it all until it thickens into tomato gravy, adding pepper and salt to taste. Put a layer of rice on a platter, then add a layer of the cooked okra. Pour tomato gravy over it all and serve hot.

Lazy okra

The writer called this one “lazy okra” because it requires little attention while it’s cooking. It’s another okra and rice dish, but it starts with frying slices of salt meat or bacon. In a large pot, boil two cups of rice until it’s half done. Add three cups of raw okra, cut into one inch lengths. Add the meat and drippings, and set it back on the stove until the rice is entirely done.

Stewed okra

How much okra do you want? This recipe leaves that up to you, and you don’t have to do any cutting. Put the whole okra in boiling salt water and let them cook until tender. It should take 15 to 20 minutes. When it’s done, drain off the water and sprinkle the okra with pepper, salt, and two tablespoons of vinegar. Set it back on the stove to simmer. When you’re ready to serve, have some melted butter with corn starch mixed in, and pour that over the okra.

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Okra salad

• 2 cups okra sliced thin

• 1 cup sliced tomatoes

• 1 cup sliced cucumbers

• ? cup finely chopped onion

Mix this thoroughly, and serve with dressing made from this:

• ? teaspoon salt

• ? teaspoon pepper

• 2 tablespoons vinegar

• 1/3 cup olive oil or peanut oil

• 1 clove of garlic

Crush the garlic in a bowl, leaving only the juice. Add pepper, salt and vinegar, and lastly the oil. Drop in a piece of ice and beat it quickly. It will thicken into a velvety smoothness. Put it in the refrigerator until needed.

Okra pie

Boil whole okra for five minutes in meat stock. Make a good crust to line the pan, and then fill it with two cups of the cooked okra and one cup of cold meat chopped fine. Add some seasoning and a half cup of stock. For the pie topping, whip four egg whites and four egg yolks separately. Add pepper and salt to the yolks. When each is beaten, fold them lightly together and pour over the pie filling and bake.

Canned okra

You’ll want young, tender okra for this. Cut it into small lengths, though if the whole okra is small already you can leave it whole. Pack it into jars and cover with brine made of 1 teaspoon of salt to 1 quart of water. Seal these jars with rubber rings and glass tops. Have a tub of hot water prepared. Place the jars in, with the tops of the jars one inch above the water’s surface. Bring it to a boil, and let it boil for an hour. Boil the jars the same way over the next two days. After that, screw the tops on firmly, cool them, and put them away.

Pickled okra

Get young okra that feels velvety and place it in a strong brine for three days. Drain the brine  and then pour boiling water over the okra. Dry them immediately and place in jars. Fill the jars the rest of the way with vinegar and any spice you prefer. An important note is that the okra need to be whole through this process. Do not cut off the tops.

IF YOU TRY IT

If you decide to try one of these lost recipes please send us a photo and a note on how it went. Send it in an email titled "Lost Recipes" to Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Lost Recipes: Prepare okra in a variety of ways with these 1916 dishes