Name: Mrs. PHILtip PENDLETON’s Gumbo
Ingredients: 1 chicken, cut into 4-5 pieces; ½ teaspoon black pepper; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 gallon okra, chopped fine; 6-8 tomatoes; a few slices of ham; 8 ears of fresh corn, kernels removed; 3 quarts boiling water

Why it works: Okra and tomato work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 327 recipes. Both carry damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Mrs. PHILtip PENDLETON’s Gumbo

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Fry the chicken pieces until brown and season with pepper and salt.
In a large pot, combine the okra and chicken.
Add the tomatoes and ham, stirring well.
Add the corn kernels without frying them.

Simmer

Pour in the boiling water and let it boil until the chicken is tender.
Adjust the consistency by adding more boiling water if needed.

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.

Okra + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together327 recipes

Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,099 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Okra + corntop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together161 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,031 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken: Provides the main protein and savory flavor as it browns and then tenderizes in the broth.
Okra: Releases natural thickening starch as it cooks, giving the gumbo its body.
Tomatoes: Add acidity and moisture, adding brightness to the rich broth.
Corn: Adds sweetness and a fresh texture to the pot.

The step that matters

Add the corn without frying it. The record specifies adding the corn kernels without frying them. Frying would add browning and fat that change the flavor and texture, so the corn should go in raw and cook gently in the simmering liquid.

Swap the okra

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

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits about as well
Carrotfits about as well
Okrathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, tomato, ham, corn. 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.

More gumbo recipes

Chicken 45 Soup 37 Okra 30 Oyster 21 Crab 8 French 8 See all 76 →

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Chicken Broth257 recipes

Corn Fritters203 recipes

Chicken Soup156 recipes

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Mrs. PHILtip PENDLETON’s Gumbo