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Soup

Ham-bone Soup

A hearty soup made with water, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, butter beans, okra, pepper, and a cooked ham bone.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and okra share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 66 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Ham-bone Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large soup pot, combine the water, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, butter beans, okra, and pepper.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it cook well.

  3. One hour before serving, add the cooked ham bone to the pot.

  4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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.

  1. Beans + okratop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together66 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Tomato + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  3. Corn + beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,211 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Tomato + okratop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together327 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Potato + corntop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together938 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Ham bone
Adds smoky, savory flavor to the broth as it simmers.
Potatoes
Soften as they cook, adding body and starch that thickens the soup slightly.
Butter beans
Hold their shape while adding creamy texture and substance to the soup.
Tomatoes
Contribute acidity and liquid that builds the broth's flavor.

The step that matters

Adding the ham bone one hour before serving. Simmering the cooked ham bone long enough lets its flavor and fat seep into the broth, but adding it too late leaves the soup tasting thin. Timing it so it simmers for about an hour gives the broth time to absorb its savory flavor without overcooking the vegetables.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, tomato, corn, butter, beans, okra, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, tomato, corn, butter, beans, okra, 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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