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Gumbo File

A New Orleans gumbo made with chicken, onions, ham, oysters, and Dunbar File powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Gumbo File

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gumbo

  1. Fry the chicken in hot lard until browned.

  2. Add sliced onions and cook until they are brown.

  3. Pour in boiling water and add the chopped ham.

  4. Season with salt and pepper, then let simmer slowly.

  5. Remove the bones from the chicken.

  6. 15 minutes before serving, add the oysters and cook until their edges curl.

  7. Dissolve the Dunbar File powder in cold water and stir it into the gumbo until well mixed.

Serve

  1. Serve with dry steamed rice in the center of each soup plate.

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. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Browned in lard to build flavor, then simmered to become tender and savory.
Lard
Fat that browns the chicken and onions, adding rich, savory flavor.
Onions
Caramelize when browned, adding sweetness and depth to the broth.
Oysters
Added near the end so they cook briefly and stay tender, adding briny flavor.
Dunbar file powder
Ground sassafras seasoning that thickens the gumbo and adds its distinctive aroma.

The step that matters

Stirring in the file powder. File powder thickens liquid and can turn stringy or clumpy if boiled for long. Dissolve it in cold water first and stir it in off the heat or at low heat so it blends smoothly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, ham, pepper, oyster, rice):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, ham, pepper, oyster, rice. 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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