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Gumbo Chou

A gumbo made with cabbage, oysters, tomatoes, and molasses, served over rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Gumbo Chou

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Boil the cabbage until tender, then chop it very finely.

  2. Sprinkle the chopped cabbage with flour.

Cook the gumbo

  1. Heat the lard in a pan and add enough water to prevent burning.

  2. Add the cabbage, oysters with their liquor, and chopped tomatoes to the pan.

  3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  4. Just before serving, stir in the molasses.

Serve

  1. Serve the gumbo with boiled rice.

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. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Cabbage + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together361 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the main body of the gumbo and becomes tender and soft after boiling.
Flour
Coats the chopped cabbage and helps thicken the gumbo liquid.
Lard
Provides fat for cooking and carries flavor through the pan.
Oysters
Contribute briny, savory flavor and their liquor adds seasoning to the gumbo.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture, rounding out the gumbo's flavor.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and a deep, dark color to the gumbo.

The step that matters

Add enough water to the hot lard. The record says the water prevents burning. Without enough liquid, the flour and fat can scorch in the pan before the other ingredients go in.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, oyster, tomato, pepper, molasses, rice):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, oyster, tomato, pepper, molasses, rice. 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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