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Okra Soup

A hearty soup made with chicken, veal, beef, okra, corn, beans, tomatoes, peppers, carrot, onion, celery, butter, salt, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Okra and lima beans share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 64 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Okra Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pot

  1. Cut the chicken and place it in a large pot with the butter and sliced tomatoes.

  2. Add the veal and beef, cut into small pieces, along with the sliced okra, green corn, Lima beans, celery, parsley, and salt.

Simmer

  1. Pour in 1 quart of water and bring to a boil.

  2. Reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 hours.

  3. Add the remaining water.

  4. Boil for an additional 30 minutes.

Strain and serve

  1. Strain the soup.

  2. Serve, reserving the okra, corn, and other vegetables to be enjoyed as a side dish or with the soup.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Okra + lima beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together64 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Okra + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together327 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Corn + lima beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together222 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Chicken + beeftop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,148 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Corn + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Okra
Thickens the broth as it cooks, giving the soup its characteristic body.
Beef
Provides rich, savory flavor and body from long simmering.
Veal
Adds tender meat and gelatin for a fuller, silkier broth.
Chicken
Contributes savory depth and gelatin to the stock.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and sweetness that balance the rich meats.
Lima beans
Add starch and a creamy, mealy texture to the soup.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, veal, beef, okra, corn, tomato, pepper):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Lima beansthe original
  3. Lentilsfits about as well
  4. Peanutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, veal, beef, okra, corn, tomato, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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