Pickled Okra

[Bird]

I've always loved pickled okra. If there's enough pickled okra, I'd throw away all the pickled cucumbers, and unpickled ones, too. The trouble is that it's usually hard to find pickled okra in the grocery stores. When we lived on the farm, we pickled our own (or maybe I should say MY own since my wife does not share my enthusiasm for it). But today, while she was getting herself some sweet pickles at Walmart, lo and behold, there were pint jars of Talk 'O Texas mild pickled okra. I hadn't heard of the brand before, so I only bought 2 pints at $2.44 a pint, but it was so good I had to force myself to stop without eating a whole pint jar all at once.

 

[kenmac]

I'll just have to take your word as how good they are. The only way I like orka is fried

 

[Egon]

I'm still looking Bird.

 

[Bird]

I'll just have to take your word as how good they are. The only way I like orka is fried

Just like my wife. I just occasionally like a little stewed okra, but I can understand folks not liking that and thinking of it as slimy (slides right down your gullet), but pickled is not at all slimy; just a nice crisp pickle that puts dill cucumber pickles to shame.

 

[dmccarty]

I've always loved pickled okra. If there's enough pickled okra, I'd throw away all the pickled cucumbers, and unpickled ones, too. The trouble is that it's usually hard to find pickled okra in the grocery stores. When we lived on the farm, we pickled our own (or maybe I should say MY own since my wife does not share my enthusiasm for it). But today, while she was getting herself some sweet pickles at Walmart, lo and behold, there were pint jars of Talk 'O Texas mild pickled okra. I hadn't heard of the brand before, so I only bought 2 pints at $2.44 a pint, but it was so good I had to force myself to stop without eating a whole pint jar all at once.

We have two brands of picked okra in our local store, Mt Olive which down east in NC and Talk O Texas. Hate to say it but I really prefer the Talk O Texas brand. I think the pickle has less vinegar.

The last two years we have grown Okra. This year we had about 12 feet of Okra. I don't think you can go hungry if you grow Okra. That stuff is taller than the corn AND ITS STILL PRODUCING. I figured it was done. But there are flowers still popping out. We stopped gathering the Okra weeks ago. We have gallons of it breaded and reading to fry frozen in the freezer. I picked a couple gallons as well. Once I'm finished with the Talk O Texas jar in the fridge I'll open what I pickled. See who is better.

The cuke pickles I made this year are FAR better than any store bought brand I have every had. Takes three days to make them, only a bit of time the first two days but they sure are worth it.

Later,
Dan

 

[kthompson]

It shocked me when my wife bought the first jar (it is on grocery shelves here) but I did about the same on wiping out that jar. But what picked is not good?

Will say by far restaurants only think of fried but much prefer picked and stewed. Makes me think of steamed oysters. kt

 

[Egon]

Steamed Mussels I really like but Oysters??

Pickled cukes are high on my list of necessities. A friends mother used to make the best I'd tasted. We used to sneak them out by the 2 quart jar and there seemed to be a never ending supply.

Pickled carrots go good too. and peppers and beans and ??

 

[jinman]

I hadn't heard of the brand before, so I only bought 2 pints at $2.44 a pint, but it was so good I had to force myself to stop without eating a whole pint jar all at once.

Wow! That's not pickled okra, it's pickled gold. I know you can't make it for that price, but that does seem expensive. I like to buy lsliced and pickled banana peppers and also the bread and butter slices in the big jugs (slightly less than 1 gal). As I remember, one of those huge jars is less than $4 each. Unfortunately, pickled okra is a specialty product and not inexpensive. I think the local fruit stand here sells their own brand for almost $4 per pint. That's way too expensive for me.

Last year when we had lots of okra, my sweet wife pickled several half-pint jars for me. I think hers is the best pickled okra I ever tasted. It's hard for me not to eat a whole jar everytime I open one. Just like you, Bird, I love it.

I like the pickled okra that you find on lots of salad bars. There has to be a source of restaurant sized containers. If I could find it, I'd divide those big containers into smaller ones. Being pickled, that should be easy to do without any worry of the product going bad. I keep looking at Sam's, but all they have is gallon jugs of cucumber pickles and pickled hot peppers. Sometimes they have the large round (green and red) mild peppers that I love too, but I don't notice them there all the time.

About two years ago, Sam's carried sun-dried tomatoes in quart jars. I bought about four jars. Soon after, they quit carrying them. I was really disappointed, because sun-dried tomatoes are more expensive than pickled okra and Sam's had them for a good price.

 

[Egon]

Jinman, a few years ago we had a terrific tomato crop. I dried quite a few in a little electric dryer. Really easy to do.

With that "GARDEN" of yours last year you could go into a pickling and drying with very little trouble. Course on a home based system you would have trouble keeping up to the produce.

 

[Bird]

Jim, if you think that pickled okra was expensive . . . a few months ago, 50 miles from here, I found some pickled asparagus and bought the last 4 pints they had at $5 a pint.

 

[kthompson]

Egon,
steamed or roasted oysters are big here. I will tell you for myself they are a mood food, must be in that mood for them. It is amazing the people who will pick them up and open them totally cold and eat them. Oh well, just thinking of it fills me up. kt

 

[scgargoyle]

The very best oysters are ice cold on the half shell! I don't eat 'em any more due to health risks.

I love okra in many forms, and the hot pickled ones are great! I've never canned my own; we just stew 'em with tomatoes and corn. The tomatoes seem to absorb the slime.

 

[Egon]

Fried oysters I like but have never heard of steamed oysters. My world is quite small.

 

[Bird]

The very best oysters are ice cold on the half shell!

I rarely eat oysters anymore and my wife won't eat them at all. But I really liked smoked oysters, fried oysters, and oysters in the Cajun Stew. Now I've eaten raw oysters on the half shell, with and without sauces, barbecued and Italian oysters (warm, but still raw with barbecue sauce or tomato sauce), but eating them raw just always seemed like a terrible waste of good oysters to me. The "best" raw oysters were those taken right out of the bay, popped open and eaten with a minute of coming out of the salt water; still a bit salty from the water from which they came.

 

[tallyho8]

From the oyster capital of the world comes this advice: Char-Broiled oysters are the best!

I enclose a famous recipe from Drago's Restaurant.

Ingredients
1 lb butter
2 Tbs. finely chopped garlic
1/2 tsp. black pepper
3 dozen oysters on the half shell
3 Tbs. grated parmesan and romano cheese
1 Tbs. chopped parsley

1. Mix butter with pepper and garlic.
2. Heat a gas or charcoal grill and put oysters on the half shell right over the hottest part. Spoon seasoned butter over the oysters, then sprinkle a touch of grated cheese and parsley on top.
Oysters are done when the sides puff up.

I added the next part:
Next day jog 3 miles to lose weight gained by eating oysters.

 

[Bird]

That certainly does sound mouth watering good.

 

[Egon]

I was hoping the steaming or barbecuing would eliminate the shucking.

 

[dmccarty]

Fried oysters I like but have never heard of steamed oysters. My world is quite small.

Now I am getting hungry.....

My cousin and I used to go to a place in Orlando. It just had a U shaped huge bar with the shuckers in the middle. Each of use would start with a pitcher of beer and a bucket of oysters. Usually steamed. YUMMY. We would get through at least a couple of buckets.

They used to make this thing called a Rooster. Take a cracker. Put the smallest ittiest bitty oyster the shucker could find on the cracker. Then top the cracker with horse radish 1/4-1/2 thick. Then turn the horse radish RED with hot sauce. Guess it was called a Rooster since you would crow when you ate the thing and when it came out later.

I do like raw oysters from time to time.

Our grocery store has shucked raw oysters in the meat department. They are cold and the must be pasturized or something since they have a shelf like in weeks not days. I buy some every once in awhile, bread them and fry them up outside. They don't make it into the house. A little lime/lemon squeezed on them hot out of the oil. YUM YUM.

Not sure how those oysters get the long shelf life but they were VERY good. Briney.

Later,
Dan

 

[Egon]

Yesterday I was craving pickled stuff. Made a Trip to the grocery store and found some canned okra.

It was soft but was eatable. I believe it may not have been a true pickle.

 

[Bird]

Not sure how those oysters get the long shelf life but they were VERY good.

I have no idea about the shelf life. I've helped my Dad harvest oysters on the Texas coast, but we always shucked them, cleaned them, and froze them the same day unless we were also going to eat them that day.

I used to have a brine recipe for smoking salmon, and I used that same "brine" for shark, sheepshead, and even oysters. I used to leave the oysters in that brine overnight, then I'd put aluminum foil on the racks and punch it full of holes with a fork, and spread the oysters on there to smoke them. A smoked oyster on a cracker makes very good snacking.