(Intro Music plays) Okra is not something people are on the fence about it.

You either hate it or you say you love it.

(Theme Music plays- The Avett Brothers "Will You Return") I'm Vivian and I'm a chef.

My husband, Ben and I were working for some of the best chefs in New York City when my parents offered to help us open our own restaurant.

Of course, there was a catch.

We had to open this restaurant in Eastern North Carolina, where I grew up and said I would never return.

(Theme Music plays) (Theme Music plays) So this is my life.

Raising twins, living in the house I grew up in, and exploring the south, one ingredient at a time.

Previously on A Chef's Life.

I am trying to write and deliver a cookbook by January which is really crazy timing.

A few weeks ago the Boiler Room chef quit.

We are in our second round of interviews.

Well, I'm devastated.

Our ideal candidate is in fact not taking the job.

We're going to get somebody on this round.

(Music Plays) Mr. Grady, this is Angie.

Hi.

I'm so glad to meet you.

Tomorrow is the first photo shoot for my book and I've got no idea what I'm doing.

So, I've called in a friend, Angie Mosier.

She's a food stylist and we're going to go prop hunting.

So, this is your hobby, antiquey, like collecting...

I like to work and I like to go to auctions.

We're just looking for, you know, I don't know what we're looking for?

(Music Plays) Oooh!

Wow!

Hahaha.

Amazing!

Awesome!

Wow!

Wow.

I'm like, overwhelmed.

What is that wood thing hanging there?

That's an old dough board.

May we borrow that?

Yeah!

You ever seen anything like this?

Oh my gosh, no!

That's awesome!

So this opens so you can put cool...

Cool or hot.

Cool or hot but cool for pastry because before we had air conditioning if your pastry got too hot your dough would not work.

That's so cool.

Yeah.

(Music Plays) This is really incredible.

It's pretty amazing that nobody has come in here so we can't give the address away.

We don't want anyone coming in and picking all this stuff.

It's really beautiful.

I am overwhelmed.

(Laughter) It's so rare to find these with the lids on them.

They're very valuable so don't let anyone come in here and cheat you out of any of this stuff.

No.

They won't.

Including me.

(Laughter) I used to come in and it was all organized and then it got to a point where it was all bringing in and putting down, bringing in and putting down.

But, it's fun.

You know, it's like, I've never had a pair of snow skis but I got a pair.

Why would I need them?

(Laughter) I always wanted a bear trap so I got a bear trap.

Look at this.

Peanuts.

So we'll have to use that at some point.

It's got a little peanut.

Let's use that.

Okay.

Here's a 1947 with Currin Howard in it.

Oh wow, that's my grandfather.

This is where they would go up there.

His tenants would charge stuff.

There's Bunk.

That's my Uncle Bunk.

(Laughter) Here's Mr. Bill.

That was my father-in-law.

In fact I married a girl that come from right up there at Howard corner.

Little Howardville.

Right.

(Laughter) Sure did.

I love old stuff.

It makes you feel connected kind of.

(Music Plays) Thank you so much.

I enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed it.

I didn't really have to bring anything with me.

(Laughter) I may have several other very important projects going on, but I still have to drive the creative tone at the restaurant.

People come to Chef and The Farmer and they want to eat Vivian's food so I gotta participate.

Hey.

Hey.

Are you ready for tomorrow?

Yes.

Okay.

Tomorrow, we're going to work the okra chapter.

They're gonna take photos.

You're going to cook and I'm going to work with Angie on the styling the photos.

So, maybe if you could try to be there by 9 tomorrow?

Okay.

And we'll work 'til about dark.

Okay.

This will be an experiment tomorrow.

So, what I want to talk about is the okra gumbo, shrimp and grits.

I made a shrimp stock on Saturday to start that.

Okay.

Allen was working on andouille sausage.

Mmm hmmm.

We'll probably work on it today and maybe test it tomorrow.

Then put it on Thursday or Friday.

Alright great.

(Music Plays) Don't call me out on this because I'm just speculating but I think southern people are the only people in America who eat okra and I think we eat it because we're underdogs and okra is definitely an underdog.

Are you gonna put on long sleeves?

No, for what?

For picking okra, you're gonna be all itchy.

Have you ever picked okra?

I've never picked okra.

Oh god, anyway you'll see.

Warren is one of these people who claims to love okra and I know that's true because every summer he's trying to push pounds and pounds into my walk in.

I think he's one of these people who likes it every way, boiled, slimy, fried, maybe even raw.

Okra patch.

Ohhh!

So, Warren, did you do some research on the okra?

No, I haven't done that.

(Laughter) But what I think I know is probably the slaves brought it over from Africa when they came.

Have you heard that?

I have heard that.

I don't think that's gonna be new information for anybody, Warren.

Right right, okay, you know.

(Laughter) This is red burgundy okra and I like it but you know, it doesn't stay red.

If you pickle it, it does.

I actually really like raw okra too.

I do too.

Try that and see what you think.

It's round.

It is.

As opposed to having little grooves all in it.

It all tastes like okra.

Tastes like okra.

Tastes like okra.

So, okra we think of as a late summer early fall crop.

Right.

Right, don't plant it 'til mid-May.

But initially it starts producing from the bottom.

Oh yeah the first time you pick you're all down here like this.

Look at that stalk.

It's like a tree.

I can't imagine getting all down in there with all the spines and spikes.

Are you itching already?

Yeah, it's definitely a peculiar thing though, okra.

It's polarizing.

It's like raisins.

Yeah.

You either love it or you hate it.

A lot of people don't eat okra.

Now, this is an every two day pick.

Okay, what do you mean by that?

I mean, we're picking it every two days.

(Laughter) (Music Plays) So, you call this burr?

Well, if you rub it this way...

It's terrible.

I'm itching like I'm not going to be able to stand in here very long.

(Laughter) I see why all of y'all are covered up.

(Laughter) I'm in a bad way right here.

So, tell me how you like to eat okra.

I don't know.

I like it fried.

And that's kind of skillet fried.

Even Mama says don't be bringing all that big okra here.

The little tiny okra.

Did you like 'em like that?

Yeah, that's the way I get them if I eat at her table.

(Laughter) Take 'em like I can get 'em.

I see how the bloom happens and then it falls off.

You got this one.

It's one day old.

Hasn't even bloomed yet.

And that becomes the okra.

I guess that's kind of common knowledge but not unless you come out here and see it.

And get in the okra patch.

And I don't recommend that.

You don't?

(Laughter) If you had on...

If I had on the appropriate clothing.

Do you have any clippers so I could clip the tops of some of these?

I think I would like to put them in a vase.

We're going to be photographing style shots.

Yeah.

Here ya go.

(Music Plays) Here's a pretty one over here.

One more.

This one's too pretty to miss.

Alright.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

(Music Plays) How they look, Lillie?

They look pretty.

Hey Lillie.

Hey, how are you?

I'm good.

How are you?

I'm doing just fine.

I missed you out there.

I needed somebody to tell me I needed to wear something on my arms.

Was she scratching?

Yeah, she decided she was tender.

(Laughter) Them okra will make you tender.

Yeah, it was terrible.

So, do you cook okra?

Yeah.

Tell me how you do it.

Well, I just wash mines.

I get my okra.

I don't like that.

I cut that off.

I put 'em in a pot and boil 'em and put some bacon and salt and pepper in there and that's a wrap.

Really?

You boil them?

Mmm hmm.

And this is the size we want.

That's the size that you want to cook.

This is like... That's perfect, yeah.

Thank you, Lillie.

You're welcome.

(Music Plays) When I moved to New York I had no idea that southern food was like a thing.

I started working at this restaurant called Voyage and the chef there, his name is Scott Barton, kind of opened my eyes to the fact that what I grew up eating was in fact a cuisine and it had roots and it came from somewhere and he is coming here today and he is going to eat here tonight and hopefully tell us a little bit about okra because he's like an expert on where our food comes from.

Basically, where the traditions came from and so I'm both pretty excited and also relatively nervous to invite him into my world here.

So, uhhhh I don't know why I keep doing this to myself?

(Laughter) (Music Plays) I say that Scott Barton is my mentor.

He was the first chef that I worked for so the fact that he is coming from New York down to North Carolina to spend time in my kitchen makes me incredibly nervous.

Hey, Scott.

Hey Vivian!

How are you?

I'm okay.

How about you?

I'm good.

I'm scared.

What you making?

Nothing!

Come on get out.

Let's just go out there.

(Laughter) I like your kitchen though.

I'm trying to put four new dishes on the menu tonight.

Oh cool!

How often do you change your menu?

Some every week but we're doing a really kind of big overhaul and my situation is different now.

So, you're here all the time does that mean you're also at the other place?

I'm doing... well I have two kids.

You have two kids?

Yeah, we have twins.

How old are they?

They're 3, 3 and a half.

Wow, that must be a lot.

Yeah, it's a lot.

But, it's great.

Yeah.

Congratulations.

Thank you, thank you.

So, let's talk about what we're going to do.

Okay.

Now, will you tell me what you were eating in there?

No.

(Laughter) Twelve years ago Scott was an accomplished chef in a professional kitchen.

Since that time he's decided to take his food studies in a scholarly route and he has literally traveled all over Brazil learning about the roots of Brazilian food.

He probably knows more about the history of southern food and how it got here than anybody else.

I have a question for you.

Here, if okra gets old and I mean old in the field for a while does it get leathery?

Yes.

So fibrous.

Yes.

When I'm in Brazil you have to pick okra very carefully.

It's a much different okra.

Like if we say here ours is about yay big, there that's small.

Usually it's about this big.

Oh, really?

We're always looking for okra that's about like that.

Yeah.

We always have kind of a shrimp and grits on the menu.

We make an andouille sausage, thicken the whole thing with okra just by cooking it in there and letting the slime come out, and we'll serve it over grits in lieu of rice.

Okay, I like that.

So, that's gonna go on tonight.

John's working on that.

I've done a lot of just telling him how we want it to be and we're gonna taste it.

I don't know if you're gonna taste it because I don't know if I'm ready for that.

(Laughter) (Music Plays) What I would love is for you just tell me what to do.

You have shrimp stock?

Yes.

Can I see your andouille?

You need some onion and you need some garlic.

So, we're going to brown this along with your trinity.

So, your shrimp stock, your okra because the goal is to cook it long enough it gives up it's slime.

Yeah.

Your spicy tomato.

Okay, so we're going to let that cook for ten minutes and I'll come back around.

I haven't eaten anything yet but I'm impressed.

No, you're not.

You're good.

We've been working at this a long time.

I know.

I know.

You can feel it.

I also know Scott to be someone with very few boundaries.

If he's got a question he's gonna ask it.

So, what's in your dough?

It's actually like a sugar cookie but I add more butter to it.

That will be good.

It's really good.

I love your earrings.

Those are really cute.

Oh, thank you.

If he wants to see something he's gonna look at it.

He feels connected to me so he's gonna be all up in my biz.

And that makes me uncomfortable.

So, I've got bacon.

Okay.

And then you're going to put maybe four nice pieces of okra and then drop the fish.

Slide that in there.

Spine to the back.

Okay.

At that point what we want to do is add our corn bread.

Okay.

You kind of want it to toast in the fish juice.

Okay.

Can I tell you something?

I'm really appreciating how thoughtful you are with your staff.

Thank you.

(Music Plays) How are y'all?

Awesome.

How are you doing, chef?

So, you know Ben and I met at a restaurant called Voyage in New York.

We were both servers initially and it was really like a life changing moment for me because I was just kind of floundering and trying to figure out who I was and what I was doing and Scott was the chef at Voyage and really made me realize how passionate I was about food and storytelling.

So it was like that period in your life where you're like, this is so awesome.

And Scott was a big part of that and so he's down here.

He's an expert on southern food via Africa.

We're gonna let y'all taste these dishes and Scott's gonna talk a little bit about the importance of okra in southern cuisine.

So, pork chop and then we have a wood roasted trout and the other thing, a new shrimp and grits and the cool thing is we used the slime from the okra to thicken the sauce.

What makes it slimey?

It's one of the few mucilaginous plants.

It's naturally got that inside surrounding the seed case.

It naturally and historically a thickener.

It was used to thicken dishes.

If we think of poverty cooking or what we would come to call provincial cooking, to be able to have something that you can extend for a large group of people so if you have a sauce that coats... Like gravy for us.

Yeah, gravy for you.

That is advantageous because we're looking at people who really historically wouldn't have had the wherewithal to have a roast or things that we commonly take for granted.

So, where does okra come from?

We all know okra comes from Africa, right?

Generally associated with West Africa.

It is one of the key, what could be called retention or survival foods that tell you Africans have been in a place.

Anywhere you go on this planet and you see okra, then somewhere Africans were in that place.

(Music Plays) Here we go.

You're up.

I got a grits, okra, and a trout.

Oh, wow!

I wanna know what kind of server she was?

Amazing.

I was a great server.

I know you were.

You know, we were in a southern restaurant and I was a southern person.

You might have been the only southerner.

I think I was.

I've never seen that part of her.

I stay out, I don't participate in front of the house stuff because it's Ben's world and I don't want him to participate in my world.

That's good.

The worlds collide.

Right there at the pass.

(Laughter) (Music Plays) Can I order something from you?

Can I get this fried okra appetizer?

Those are fantastic.

Several years ago I decided to come up with a dish that would turn an okra hater into an okra hoarder.

Fried okra with our ranch ice cream.

The only thing a modern southerner loves more than pork is ranch dressing.

So my idea was to make ranch dressing ice cream and serve it with fried okra.

And it was brilliant.

I like it very much so.

I like it for a couple of reasons.

One, the batter that is kind of tempura like is very light.

There's a good textural counterpoint between the okra.

It's got a creaminess and the crispiness of the batter.

It's not thick and not really greasy so I like it.

It's a really good dish.

Have the last one.

I like okra any way any day.

What do you think?

It's good.

It's really good.

I don't like okra but I like these.

I could eat a bowl of these.

(Music Plays) Hey, you having fun?

Yeah, we're...

Okay so I got to tell you I really like the okra and so I said try the last one and he goes I don't like okra.

I don't like the slime like most people Yeah.

So he goes, this is good.

I could eat a bowl of these.

Good.

But he only left me one.

(Laughter) After I got over myself and settled down a little bit I actually really enjoyed being around Scott.

It was more like we were peers.

I mean, yeah I have a lot that I can learn from him but I'm not like this young adult who wants to cook and write about food anymore.

I'm actually doing those things.

It felt good to share and talk like friends.

Awesome.

Y'all have a good evening.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for coming out.

I'm gonna go and I'll be back.

Yeah, do what you gotta do.

I feel like a charred piece of okra.

Yesterday I was struck by how pretty the flowers were and I thought I'll bring some of that back for the photo shoot but they didn't really last.

No they do immediately.

(Laughter) I may not know much about taking photos for my book but I do know one thing, that if we're going to get anything done Theo and Flo cannot be here.

Okay, y'all get on the road.

Mommy, why are we leaving?

I love you.

Bye Mommy.

Y'all be careful.

We will.

So, this is bizarre because I normally do things with pretty much no help.

You got help today.

(Laughter) It's like I don't know what to do with all y'all.

We're going to try and take 12 to 15 photos today.

I know you said 10 is a good number, but we're gonna shoot big.

We're going to start with okra and we're going to do 5 okra dishes.

So, I got a little shot list and I've never done this before.

Angie's really the only person here who has done this before so we're going to lean on you to be like, you're sucking right now, Vivian.

Speed it up.

(Laughter) (Music Plays) Let me pop a couple.

Okay.

So, skillet fried okra.

So, we're gonna need okra, flour, cornmeal, and oil.

We want some tips in there because I like the texture.

In every chapter in the book I'm going to do something very traditional with the ingredient then I'm going to kind of jazz things up with my own flair.

And in the okra chapter I've chosen to share what I remember my friend Jessica's mom doing.

She kind of made like a fried okra hash.

She took sliced okra and let that slime kind of leach out a little bit and then she tossed it in cornmeal and the slime caused the cornmeal to adhere to the okra and then she fried it.

We're trying to get some slime, some mucus action.

So, what do you put in your breading?

This is just cornmeal, flour, and salt.

Is that just what you grew up with?

Yeah.

So, we're ready for you.

Okay.

I'm ready.

The bowl has to stay as close as you can to the...

Okay.

Now this is food photography.

See!

That looks pretty good.

Pause.

Pause.

Get a piece of corn in there.

Bring your bowl a little closer but don't empty it in yet.

Get the okra in there.

There ya go.

That's the money shot.

Alright, let's take a look.

So is that working for you?

Yeah, it looks great.

Alright, I feel good.

I'm fired up that we got one out of the way because I didn't know what this day was gonna be like.

It's gonna be great, Rex.

Yeah!

(Music Plays) Rex, who's shooting the book has been a part of the show from the very beginning.

You've just never see him because he's been behind the camera.

This will be his first cookbook and mine too.

And neither one of us have any idea what we're doing.

Ohh!

This makes me excited for some reason.

It should.

(Laughter) This is your book.

Okay, tempura okra, Justise.

We can have it in three minutes.

(Music Plays) Does it matter that it's coming straight out of the fryer, like for photos?

Nope.

You're good.

I got some good okra coming your way this time.

Okay, we ready?

(Music Plays) This is way more fun than I thought it was gonna be.

Did you think it was going to be stressful?

I was scared.

I really was nervous.

Look at that.

I love...oh my god!

You can see the okra through it.

Through the lace.

I just want to final like, we got it.

I think we got it.

We definitely got it.

After our first day of shooting I feel a lot better about our ability to shoot beautiful photos for the book, but I am blown away at how long it takes to just shoot one picture.

We've got a long long road ahead of us and Theo and Flo are going to have to go on a lot more day trips.

It's the prettiest okra ever.

Cool so... Okra.

Okra!

That sucked.

(Laughter) (Music Plays) For more information on A Chef's Life visit pbs.org/food A Chef's life is available on DVD.