A Texan's Last Meal (Van: foods, yard, health)

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by carolmcb

Well, I have thought long and hard on this one. There are too many good things to eat but here is my current best, last menu:

chicken fried steak
creamy mash potatoes
cream gravy
my own crispy fried okra
my own cornbread with lots of real butter
peach ice cream hand cranked (not by me)

Wellll, we might oughta share okra recipes! LOL Here is mine, from a little piece I once wrote for USADeepSouth webzine:

Fried okra - Southern cooking - Randy Hill

I really didn't intend it got published, or I would have polished it up a bit more. I just wrote it for the forum, and the Editor decided to include it the next issue!

[lonestar2007]

Hmmm, one meat and 3 vegetables, huh? Well, I guess I'd have to go with chicken fried steak (good homemade kind, not those store bought pattties), panfried potatoes, red beans, corn on the cob, with a lot of cream gravy to cover the steak and potatoes with and enough left over for sopping.

One year I went out to the garden to pick some okra for supper, didn't have quite enough for a mess, so I I picked some green tomatoes to go with the okra. I cut the green tomatoes up in chunks, sliced the okra a little thicker than I normally would, cut some onion up in chunks and put them all together, coated them with a mixture of cornmeal and a little flour and fried it up. We liked it so much that every so often I would have this instead of just the plain fried okra. So, I think I would have to substitute this for salad.

As far as desert, I think I would have to substitute a combo of bar-b-qued brisket and babyback ribs.

A lot of fresh vineripe tomatoes just as they come from the garden (NOT refrigerated) sliced in big, thick slices, homemade sunshine pickles, a slice of black diamond watermelon and a big salt shaker for the tomatoes and watermelon. Some chowchow AND pickled green tomatoes (two different things) and fresh jalapenos.

Hot homemade yeast rolls (got to have something to sop up the gravy with) and hot cornbread dripping with butter.

Big glasses of ice cold sweet tea.

By substituting two items (salad and desert), I think I stayed in the limits

Ever notice how we Texans like to talk about food? I think we enjoy talking about it almost as much as eating it!

[carolmcb]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Wellll, we might oughta share okra recipes! LOL Here is mine, from a little piece I once wrote for USADeepSouth webzine:

Fried okra - Southern cooking - Randy Hill

I really didn't intend it got published, or I would have polished it up a bit more. I just wrote it for the forum, and the Editor decided to include it the next issue!

Well, am I impressed! I have just bookmarked your recipe which I intend to use just as soon as worthy okra becomes available again.

The way I cook okra can't be called a recipe after reading yours. I just put some grease in my old iron skillet and let it heat up. I put the cut up okra in a bag with flour and yellow corn meal. Then, they go in the skillet until golden brown. My husband loves it and even, can you believe it, told his mother that mine fried okra was better than hers. He also told her my cornbread was better than hers. Men should never, ever (even today in 2007) say such things to their mothers.

Thank you for the recipe.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by carolmcb

Well, am I impressed! I have just bookmarked your recipe which I intend to use just as soon as worthy okra becomes available again.

The way I cook okra can't be called a recipe after reading yours. I just put some grease in my old iron skillet and let it heat up. I put the cut up okra in a bag with flour and yellow corn meal. Then, they go in the skillet until golden brown. My husband loves it and even, can you believe it, told his mother that mine fried okra was better than hers. He also told her my cornbread was better than hers. Men should never, ever (even today in 2007) say such things to their mothers.

Thank you for the recipe.

Thank YOU in turn, Miss Carol, for your nice words!

I SHOULD have added in my article (which, again, I would have polished up a bit more had I known it was going to be published) certain "variations" on frying okra ala' any sort of coating. My grandmother used to occasionally add some grits to the cornmeal..

Fried okra is one of those items I can almost NEVER fill up on. And mixed in with black-eyed peas? Oh man, whatchoo tawkin' about!

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Fried okra is one of those items I can almost NEVER fill up on. And mixed in with black-eyed peas? Oh man, whatchoo tawkin' about!

I have some friends from Illinois that swear blackeyed peas are COW feed and okra is a WEED! Won't try either one and there's no changing their mind. Well, it's their loss!

Speaking of okra, I and everybody I know pronounces it as okree, but I have heard some people say okrah. Where do you reckon that okrah comes from?

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

I have some friends from Illinois that swear blackeyed peas are COW feed and okra is a WEED! Won't try either one and there's no changing their mind. Well, it's their loss!

Speaking of okra, I and everybody I know pronounces it as okree, but I have heard some people say okrah. Where do you reckon that okrah comes from?

You got THAT right! (their loss, that is). LOL Yankees just don't know what is GOOD!

I DO have to confess though, that I too call it "Oak-ruh". My grandmother though, says "okree".

I can think of NOTHING more heavenly than the smell coming from a Southern kitchen where black-eyed peas are boiling, and okra is frying...

Oh man...the days...

[Hyun-Soo]

Chicken Fried Steak
Mash Potatoes with Seasonings
Seasoned Corn
Caesar Salad
Fresh Butter Rolls
Bucket of Iced Tea
and a Heavenly Pecan Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

You got THAT right! (their loss, that is). LOL Yankees just don't know what is GOOD!

I DO have to confess though, that I too call it "Oak-ruh". My grandmother though, says "okree".

I can think of NOTHING more heavenly than the smell coming from a Southern kitchen where black-eyed peas are boiling, and okra is frying...

Oh man...the days...

That's odd to me...I've never heard it pronounced "okree." Was your grandmother born in TX...or did she come from the south, if you don't mind my asking? We've (native Texans, 6th generation) always pronounced it "ok-ruh."

I personally just like okra fresh and steamed in the MW.....I love all the slime, LOL!! I never eat it (or any other veggie, for that matter) fried...

Fried green tomatoes make me GAG, LOL!!

[blueskies49]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

Ever notice how we Texans like to talk about food? I think we enjoy talking about it almost as much as eating it!

That's because we have food worth drooling over! Making me hungry now!

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Fried okra is one of those items I can almost NEVER fill up on. And mixed in with black-eyed peas? Oh man, whatchoo tawkin' about!

I've never had it mixed together, TexasReb? Sounds yummy!

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

That's odd to me...I've never heard it pronounced "okree." Was your grandmother born in TX...or did she come from the south, if you don't mind my asking? We've (native Texans, 6th generation) always pronounced it "ok-ruh."

I personally just like okra fresh and steamed in the MW.....I love all the slime, LOL!! I never eat it (or any other veggie, for that matter) fried...

Fried green tomatoes make me GAG, LOL!!

We've always pronounced it "ok-ruh", too. Cathy, I'm surprised with you liking the okra slime that you don't like the fried green tomatoes! My hubby is the opposite, he'll only eat okra fried, doesn't like the slime. I don't mind but I don't cook it other than fried cuz he won't eat it otherwise.

[MSJones]

Ever notice how we Texans like to talk about food?

Good Lord, yes! My coworkers and I joke about that all the time - because we talk about food every day. It doesn't matter how any of our conversations start out - at some point, they steer toward food and we're off. LOL!