Skip to main content
Main

Tomatoes and Ochras

A stew of tomatoes and ochras seasoned with pepper, salt, and butter, served with eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hodgson, Mary, fl. 1855 · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomatoes and Ochras

Ingredients

Directions

Stew the tomatoes and ochras

  1. Take some tomatoes and skin and cut them up with equal quantities of ochras.

  2. Season with pepper, salt, and butter.

  3. Stew them until tender, which will be nearly an hour.

  4. Stew ochras alone, seasoned with butter, pepper, and salt, adding very little water when you put them down.

Fry and combine

  1. Skin some tomatoes, then slice and fry them with butter, pepper, and salt.

  2. Cut up two onions and put them in with four eggs.

  3. Stir all well together.

Serve

  1. Serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

128Calories
8 gProtein
5 gFat
12 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Hodgson, Mary, fl. 1855. 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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

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

  3. Onion + eggtop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,333 recipes

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

Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes (in the method)
Provide moisture and a mild acidity that forms the base of the stew.
Ochras (in the method)
Release natural mucilage as they stew, thickening the mixture and giving it body.
Eggs
Set with heat when stirred into the hot mixture, binding it into a softer, cohesive texture.
Onions
Add aroma and savoury sweetness as they soften.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat for richness and carries flavour through the seasoned dishes.

The step that matters

Stirring in the eggs. Eggs set when heated, so they should be added to the hot mixture and stirred evenly. Overheating or leaving them unstirred can make them curdle unevenly rather than blending smoothly into the dish.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes