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Fried Okra With Rémoulade
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- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1cup mayonnaise
- ¼cup ketchup
- 3tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1teaspoon Cajun seasoning, preferably Slap Ya Mama
- 1teaspoon white white vinegar
- 1teaspoon lemon juice
- 2quarts canola oil, plus more as needed
- 2cups/450 grams buttermilk
- 2tablespoons hot sauce, preferably Louisiana Hot Sauce
- 1pound fresh okra, stem ends trimmed, cut crosswise into ½-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
- 2cups/240 grams all-purpose flour
- 1cup/138 grams fine or medium yellow cornmeal
- 1tablespoon Cajun seasoning, preferably Slap Ya Mama
- 1teaspoon ground cayenne
- Sea salt, to taste
For the Rémoulade
For the Fried Okra
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the rémoulade: In a medium bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, Cajun seasoning, vinegar and lemon juice. (Makes about 1½ cups rémoulade.) Cover the sauce and chill it in the fridge until you serve.
- Step 2
Prepare the okra: Pour oil into a large pot with high sides and a lid, to a depth of a few inches. Heat oil over medium-high to 350 degrees.
- Step 3
While the oil is heating, combine the buttermilk and hot sauce in a large bowl. Place the cut okra into the buttermilk mixture and stir to coat.
- Step 4
In a large bowl, stir the flour, cornmeal, Cajun seasoning and cayenne.
- Step 5
Working in 4 separate batches, dredge the soaked okra in the cornmeal mixture using your hands. Shake off the excess flour and place the okra onto a wire baking rack. After one to two dredgings of okra, use your hands or a slotted spoon to sift the flour and cornmeal mixture, removing any clumps. Finish coating the remaining okra.
- Step 6
Working in about 4 batches, making sure to not crowd the pot, fry the okra, stirring frequently, until crispy and golden, about 4 minutes. (Take care not to burn it.)
- Step 7
Remove okra using a spider and allow the okra to drain on two plates covered with paper towels. Immediately season okra with sea salt. Serve immediately with the chilled rémoulade.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I’m sure this is good but it’s what a lot of home cooks in the South call, “restaurant style.” Few in my line of home cooks would ever use flour & if so, less than the amount of corn meal. The grind of corn meal has everything to do with the outcome of this dish. I would recommend Lamb’s but if you’re not lucky enough to have that available, go with white corn meal. You are looking for am extra fine grind that no amount of flour can substitute for.
I’m just here for the remoulade :-)
White white vinegar? Just use your regular white vinegar. They might be referring to white wine vinegar but white vinegar is the one everyone has. These are delicious.
That amount of oil makes me shudder. I’m going to try this in my air fryer. I’ll try 400 for 12-15 minutes. Checking it regularly.
Fried okra is delicious, but there is nothing easy or simple about frying in the middle of a hot summer. There are lots of good recipes for cooking breaded okra in the oven or air fryer. And in my part of the Deep South, Ranch reigns supreme over all other sauces for dipping fried okra!
I used just two cups of canola oil (vs recipe’s 2 quarts) heated to 400F in an uncovered Dutch oven and I thought it was the best fried okra I’d had, and I grew up in Texas. It looked a lot like the picture, even. It even held just fine in a 225F oven, after 2 minutes draining on rack outside oven.
Sorry that is too much flour. I'm from Oklahoma so I should have known better.
I tried this with frozen and thawed okra slices, which, to be fair, the recipe explicitly says not to do. I'm not rating the recipe, having ignored the advice, I'm just letting you know that Mr Boudreaux was right and I was wrong.
Reminds me of my Oklahoma childhood!
The remoulade is amazing! Looking forward to having that on a wedge salad. This was my first time trying okra, and I may, in fact, not be a fan! The recipe itself works. The cornmeal coating was delicious and had a good heat. Also, the recipe indicate the cut the stem end off; I would suggest discarding the tip end too. It was quite fibrous. 5 stars for the remoulade, 3 for the okra.
I live in Switerland so I used medium yellow polenta as a substitute for the corn meal, presuming that it would be close. The result was a family pleaser, but I will try with a finer-grain polenta next time, following Grace's advice.
I’m not from the south and I make no claims of authority regarding southern cooking. But there used to be a Texas-centric restaurant in my neighborhood that served fried okra that I loved, so I thought I’d try making a small batch. I don’t usually deep fry at home, either, for the usual reasons. This was so good I couldn’t stop eating it. The rémoulade was very secondary, the okra itself was terrific.
My husband is from S. Louisiana and, while I'm from Minn., I love okra. I made the recipe with fresh okra from our garden. We both really liked the remoulade sauce. However, we were underwhelmed with the fried okra. I expected it to be better than what one finds in southern restaurants, given it had LA spices throughout, but the okra and LA flavors were attenuated. We prefer my easier way of cooking it, sauteing okra in olive oil on medium to med-high heat until browned, then adding salt.
I used just two cups of canola oil (vs recipe’s 2 quarts) heated to 400F in an uncovered Dutch oven and I thought it was the best fried okra I’d had, and I grew up in Texas. It looked a lot like the picture, even. It even held just fine in a 225F oven, after 2 minutes draining on rack outside oven.
Even at the cheapest store, 2 quarts of oil is 5 or 6 dollars. This to cook 2 dollars worth of okra.
Ideally if one's frying things, you re-use the oil. Only issue is if one's frying something that really flavors the oil (in my experience, onion rings in a good way, most fish in a "distinctive" way.)
Made as described and loved it. Only problem was i definitely got bored of dredging by the 3rd batch.
That amount of oil makes me shudder. I’m going to try this in my air fryer. I’ll try 400 for 12-15 minutes. Checking it regularly.
There's at least one comment about someone shallow-frying this (usually cast-iron pan, less than an inch of oil). I lived in Mississippi for many years growing up and I never saw anyone deep frying chicken, okra, or fish at home.
I’m just here for the remoulade :-)
Fried okra is delicious, but there is nothing easy or simple about frying in the middle of a hot summer. There are lots of good recipes for cooking breaded okra in the oven or air fryer. And in my part of the Deep South, Ranch reigns supreme over all other sauces for dipping fried okra!
I’m sure this is good but it’s what a lot of home cooks in the South call, “restaurant style.” Few in my line of home cooks would ever use flour & if so, less than the amount of corn meal. The grind of corn meal has everything to do with the outcome of this dish. I would recommend Lamb’s but if you’re not lucky enough to have that available, go with white corn meal. You are looking for am extra fine grind that no amount of flour can substitute for.
Is there a way to adopt this to an air fryer?
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