Lowcountry Okra Soup

For a vegetarian version, I'd start with dried beans and use the cooking water as a broth base. After slicing the corn off the cob, I'd toss the cobs in the bean pot along with onion, some herbs and black peppercorns, then cook all that for two hours. Maybe strain the broth and return to heat to concentrate flavor (but I'd probably just let the beans overcook and pull out the cobs and larger herbs when it all smelled ready). Then follow the recipe from step 3, "then stir in onion powder" etc.

I have Okra recipe from Turkey. First, chop one medium onion and a two piece garlic. Sauté onion and garlic cloves with olive oil. Olive oil should cover the pots bottom. After onion and garlic is soft, add one can or one large purée tomato and cook for 10 mins. Sauce should thicken a little. After this add one can of drained chickpeas and mix it with tomato sauce. Add okra. Half pound. Cleaned. Washed. If the are bigger than half inch, cut into two, three pieces. Add one cup of water and bo

We use Okra in many ways, but nit in a soup. We are strict vegetarians. What would you suggest for a vegetarian version of this soup?

I do love okra. One thing I have learned however the longer you cook it the more "slimy" it can become. Now I do not mind the "slime" but the faces on some people when they eat it fore the first time are priceless!! The key to is to cook it as little as possible. Boiled okra should be crisp, okra coated with cronmeal and deep fried should be crisp. To me okra has a unique spot, like eggplant which can be very bitter. When buying okra but the small ones. Try your local Indian food store.

Am not sure about the turkey necks. Every Thanksgiving while cleaning out the turkey I’d chase my nephews around with the neck, reenacting scenes from Alien, where the alien burst out of the chest. Think I might go with chicken instead.

Growing up a white segregated child of the 50's, my exposure to boiled okra and tomatoes was not good. While a Peace Corps Volunteer in 1972 in Sierra Leone in West Africa, the okra stew was wonderful as any Sierra Leonean PCV would tell you. I ate only African-prepared okra stew, always served on rice. Turkey was not available in S.L. In 4 months travel east overland to Kenya after my 2 years, I never again encountered such wonderful food as in Sierra Leone.

I would simply do without the turkey and use some good vegetable broth!

Try slicing the okra very, very thin -- 1/8th of an inch. It helps thicken the soup and enhances the flavor wonderfully. I learned this from my grandmother's brilliant African-Cherokee-American cook in Louisiana 70 years ago.

You can always put in a teaspoon or more of the adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers. It will add the smokiness to your soup. Works every time.

I grew up eating this yummy soup in Charleston, SC, in the middle of the wonderful Gullah/Geechee traditions. We always used ham hocks or smoked pig's neck instead of turkey. But both are good. Always serve with rice, and cornbread.

Fantastic! I did indeed switch the smoked turkey for chicken and it’s terrific. It also shortened the cooking time and mess, since I shredded chicken from a rotisserie and skipped the browning. Hearty, healthy, delicious recipe!

Thanks for the history lesson. The story is actually better than the soap if that is possible. As it is, this is a basic southern style vegetable soup, less potatoes. With the addition of poultry, this could pass for good chicken tortilla soup. Okra is such a good thickener. And yes a whole tomato is best. I am still picking okra. Give away most of it. What we don't eat fresh hits the freezer. My son likes to eat small, fresh cut okra. It taste like popcorn.

As a lover of many Indian okra curries, I can attest that long-cooked okra is not at all slimy. Slime as you cut the pods, yes. And when they first begin their heat journey, yes. Final result, tender, spice saturated, no slime. Always good fried, too .

My husband grew up in Charleston with a wonderful family cook. Her recipe called for 1 pound of stew beef browned instead of turkey as the broth base. Several bay leaves were added, 1 small green pepper as well as a couple of teaspoons of sugar to cut acidity of tomatoes. Always better on day 2. Serve with corn muffins and butter. This family recipe is a century old.

I suggest using smoked salt if you cannot get smoked turkey necks.