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Cowboy Gumbo

A gumbo with shrimp, crabmeat, crayfish, okra, tomatoes, and rice.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Cowboy Gumbo

Time30 minutes covered, then 15 minutes more

Ingredients

Directions

Make the roux

  1. Combine flour and butter in a heavy saucepot or dutch oven.

  2. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is light brown.

Build the gumbo

  1. Add garlic, onion and peppers and cook until tender.

  2. Stir in water, undrained tomatoes, tomato paste and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat.

  3. Cook covered for 30 minutes.

Add seafood and serve

  1. Add okra and seafood. Return to boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.

  2. Cook for another 15 minutes.

  3. Remove bay leaf.

  4. Serve with rice.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1280Calories
74 gProtein
30 gFat
176 gCarbs

Counts 17 of 19 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 17 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Shrimp100g cooked99
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Okra1 cup (100g)33
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Waternot in our table0
Crayfishnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Enriches the roux and carries the flour, adding richness and a toasty flavour as it browns.
Flour
Thickens the roux with the butter, giving the gumbo body as it cooks.
Tomato paste
Adds concentrated tomato flavour, colour and body to the broth.
Okra
Releases natural thickeners as it simmers, helping give the gumbo its body.
Shrimp, crabmeat, crayfish
Provide the main seafood flavour and tender texture in the finished gumbo.

The step that matters

Browning the roux. Cooking flour and butter on low heat while stirring constantly keeps it from scorching. The roux should only reach light brown, because it thickens the gumbo and a burnt roux turns bitter and dark.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, garlic, onion, pepper, tomato, parsley):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, garlic, onion, pepper, tomato, parsley. 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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