Fried Okra

Method

1. prep8 min
   pods dried, cut LAST, straight into buttermilk
   the okra washed and dried completely before any knife touches it, then cut into rounds and dropped directly into the buttermilk — the sequence is slime strategy: mucilage flows where moisture and time meet a cut surface, so the cut-to-coat window stays as short as hands allow
2. season4 min
   through the cornmeal blend, shaken in a bag
   cornmeal + flour + 1 tsp salt + cayenne + black pepper in a paper bag, the drained okra shaken through in two rounds — the bag coats a slick round better than any bowl, and the flour in the blend is what bonds the crust the cornmeal alone keeps shedding
3. fry12 min
   350°F shallow oil, batches, UNSTIRRED for the first minute
   each batch scattered in and left alone until the coating sets — early stirring is the classic fried-okra failure, scraping off the crust before the oil has fixed it — then turned until deep gold all over; racked, never papered
4. season1 min
   salted hot
   the remaining salt while it glistens — eaten standing up within minutes, alongside the fried chicken and collards it grew up with, or over a bowl of the catalog's gumbo where the okra rejoins its other life