Name: An Old Virginia Receipt
Ingredients: a gallon of water at an early hour in the morning; a handful of lima beans; a spoonful of butter mixed; 2 double hands full of ochra; 2 onions chopped fine; 12 o'clock put in a handful of lima beans; 1 o'clock add 3 young squash; 3 young squash; 6 tomatoes

Why it works: Onion and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

An Old Virginia Receipt

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Wash and slice 2 double hands full of okra thinly.
Add 2 finely chopped onions to the okra.
Put the mixture into a gallon of water at an early hour in the morning.

Simmer

Keep the mixture steadily simmering, but not boiling; add pepper and salt.
At 12 o’clock, add a handful of lima beans.
At half-past 1 o’clock, add 3 young squash cut into small pieces.
Add a chicken or knuckle of veal and a bit of boiled bacon or pork.
Add 6 peeled tomatoes.

Thicken and serve

When nearly done, thicken with a spoonful of butter mixed with one of veal.
Boil rice separately to serve with the soup.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

276Calories

10 gProtein

12 gFat

34 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Lima Bean	1/2 cup (85g) cooked	108
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Water	not in our table	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0

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

By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lima beans + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together131 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lima beans + oniontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together331 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lima beans + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together414 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Okra (in the method): Thickens the soup as it simmers, adding body and a silky texture.
Lima beans: Add starch and body, making the broth heartier as they soften.
Young squash: Softens into the broth, adding mild sweetness and body.
Tomatoes: Add acidity and sweetness, rounding out the flavor of the broth.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth finish when mixed in at the end.

The step that matters

Keep the simmer gentle, not a boil. A rolling boil breaks down the okra and vegetables too far and can cloud the broth. A steady, gentle simmer lets flavors blend while the pieces stay intact.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lima beans, butter, tomato):

Okrafits better
Potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lima beans, butter, tomato. 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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An Old Virginia Receipt