Okra

Know this

Buy small. Anything past four inches has already gone woody and no amount of heat walks that back. Look for bright green pods with the fuzz still on them, no black bruising down the ridges, and snap a tip off at the market: a clean snap means tender, a bend means you are buying rope. The chef secret: okra only turns slimy when it gets three things at once, a cut surface, moisture, and low heat. Take away any one of them and the mucilage stays where it belongs. So keep the pods whole and bone dry until the pan is already too hot to be reasonable.

Cook

Three ways. Whole and charred in dry cast iron, single layer, untouched for three minutes. Cut, dredged in cornmeal and fried. Or cut and stewed low into a gumbo. The first two dodge the mucilage. The third one wants it, and that is the whole point of gumbo.

Season

July into September, peak in August.

Best pairings

Tomato · Cornmeal · Smoked paprika · Garlic · Lemon · Andouille

Also worth trying: shrimp, onion, bacon, cayenne, mustard seed, coconut, curry leaves, black pepper, thyme.

Recommended wine