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This is my recipe for étouffée:

4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup minced bell pepper
2 toes minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped green onion
3 Tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 cup seafood stock
1/2 cup white wine
salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste
8 oz crawfish tails

I want to double the recipe, substituting a cup of chopped okra for the additional 1/2 cup each of celery and bell pepper otherwise called for. What concerns me about doing this is okra's mucilaginousness; I know that my great-grandmother adjusted her étouffée recipe when adding okra to it to prevent it from becoming too gummy but can't remember how.

Cascabel
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Iuls
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3 Answers3

2

More liquid will dilute the okra's thickening tendency. But then your dish will be more liquid than perhaps you want. You could perhaps cook the okra separately and add it right before serving.

Editing to add: your other option is to skip me.

  • Great idea to cook the okra separately. Off topic, I like that your other recommendation is to skip 'yourself'. ;-) – Chad Aug 09 '10 at 18:53
  • heh. edited, just for you ;) –  Aug 09 '10 at 20:28
  • I doubled the recipe and substituted only okra for the celery and bell pepper, adding a touch more wine toward the end of cooking to loosen things up a touch; it worked well. – Iuls Aug 12 '10 at 15:43
0

I'm a novice when it comes to okra, but would cooking time prevent you from adding half at the beginning and the rest later to (gummy) taste?

Ocaasi
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The gumminess in okra is from something that is inside the pods. If you add the pods whole, they won't be gummy. You can adjust how much you cut to figure out the ideal texture -- try cutting some and not others.

Martha F.
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