Skip to main content
Main

Okras and Tomatoes, Scalloped

A baked dish of okra and tomatoes with breadcrumbs, butter, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Okras and Tomatoes, Scalloped

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Cut the okra into small pieces.

  2. Halve and quarter the sliced tomatoes.

  3. Mix the okra and tomatoes together.

  4. Add the breadcrumbs.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the flour and stir for a few minutes.

  3. Gradually add the milk, stirring until boiling.

  4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

  5. Simmer gently for 5 minutes.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the okra and tomato mixture in well-buttered scallop shells.

  2. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

  3. Add a little sauce.

  4. Cover lightly with browned breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs.

  5. Add 2 or 3 small pieces of butter.

  6. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.

  7. Serve hot.

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. Okra + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together327 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Okra + flourtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together234 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Okra + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together727 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Okra
Forms the main body of the dish and gives a soft, thickened texture when cooked.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that brighten the sauce and balance the richness.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the sauce and helps the topping brown in the oven.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that binds the vegetables together.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it body and creaminess.

The step that matters

Gradually add the milk, stirring until boiling. Adding milk slowly while stirring keeps the flour evenly dispersed, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (okra, butter, flour, milk, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against okra, butter, flour, milk, 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 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipesCream Tomato SoupCream Tomato Soup28 recipes