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Crab Gumeo

A crab gumbo made with okra, ham, onion, tomatoes, flour, lard, and served over rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By New Orleans Federation of Clubs · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Okra and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 715 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Crab Gumeo

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut one dozen crabs, one large onion, one pint of okra, and one slice of ham into dice.

  2. Scald and clean the crabs, but do not boil them.

Make the gumbo

  1. Place the lard in an iron stew pan.

  2. When the lard is boiling hot, add the ham and brown it.

  3. Add the thinly sliced onion and brown carefully.

  4. Add the flour, ensuring it becomes very brown.

  5. Add one can of tomatoes, two large cooking spoonfuls of flour, and one large cooking spoonful of lard.

  6. Add the tomatoes and a quart of boiling water to thin.

  7. Transfer everything to a granite pot.

  8. Add the crabs, then the okra.

  9. Boil for not less than an hour.

  10. Season with salt and red pepper; add salt during the last fifteen minutes of cooking.

Cook the rice and serve

  1. Wash the rice in three waters.

  2. Add one and a half cupfuls of best head rice to a saucepan with a level teaspoon of salt and three cupfuls of boiling water.

  3. Boil slowly, allowing time to swell.

  4. When half cooked, turn the top under carefully with a fork so as not to make it into a mass.

  5. The rice will be thoroughly cooked.

  6. Serve with rice.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1198Calories
67 gProtein
30 gFat
159 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pork100g cooked242
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Crab100g cooked97
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Okra1 cup (100g)33
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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.

By New Orleans Federation of Clubs. 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. See the original page.

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 + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together715 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Okra + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together250 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  3. Okra + flourtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together234 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Okra + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together727 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Okra + crabtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together33 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Browned in the lard to form a roux that thickens and deepens the gumbo's flavour.
Okra
Releases mucilage that thickens the gumbo and gives it its characteristic body.
Crabs
Provide the main seafood flavour and tender meat in the gumbo.
Ham
Browned at the start to add savoury, smoky flavour to the base.
Onion
Browned in the fat to add sweetness and aromatic depth to the base.
Tomatoes (in the method)
Add acidity and body, thinning the roux into the stew.

The step that matters

Browning the flour. The flour must brown deeply in the hot lard to build the roux's nutty flavour and thickening power; under-browned flour leaves the gumbo pale, starchy and raw-tasting. Stir steadily so it does not scorch and turn bitter.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (okra, ham, rice, crab, flour, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against okra, ham, rice, crab, flour, 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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