Food - Drink
The One Vegetable Chef Leah Chase Used To Elevate Any Dish
By ERICA ANDREWS
Leah Chase was known as the "Queen of Creole Cuisine," and one beloved Creole and Cajun ingredient she loved to use is okra, a very unique fruit that is used as a vegetable.
Okra pods are full of seeds and a jelly-like interior that makes for a great thickening or binding agent. "What a flavor it gives—[and] something that gives a thickness," Chase said.
Be careful when cooking okra to eat on its own, because if cooked for too long, it can get slippery and unappetizing. To prevent this, quickly saute it without oil or butter.
Chase even used sweet and earthy okra in her crawfish-stuffed beef brisket, saying, "That okra is what makes it different. That whole okra will do so much for it, it really does."