Name: Okra and Tomatoes Stewed
Ingredients: 2 cups tomatoes, peeled and sliced; 2 cups okra, sliced crosswise; 2 or 3 sweet peppers, sliced and seeds removed; ½ cup butter; Coarse sea salt to taste; Optional: ½ cup rice, well-washed; Optional: small pieces of ham, diced

Why it works: Tomato and okra 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 ↓

Okra and Tomatoes Stewed

Ingredients

2 cups tomatoes, peeled and sliced
2 cups okra, sliced crosswise
2 or 3 sweet peppers, sliced and seeds removed
½ cup butter
Coarse sea salt to taste
Optional: ½ cup rice, well-washed
Optional: small pieces of ham, diced

Directions

In a pot, combine the sliced tomatoes, okra, and sweet peppers.
Stew the mixture over low heat for 1 to 1.5 hours, adding water only if it becomes too dry.
Add the butter and salt, then let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.
If desired, stir in the rice and diced ham before serving.

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.

Tomato + okratop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together327 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together250 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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: Its natural thickening gives the stew body as it stews slowly.
Tomatoes: Provide moisture and acidity that form the base of the stew liquid.
Butter: Adds fat and a rounded richness to the finished stew.

The step that matters

Stewing over low heat. Low, slow heat lets the vegetables soften and release their juices gently. High heat can scorch the bottom of the pot and make the stew dry, which is why water is added only if needed.

Swap the okra

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, butter, rice, ham. 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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes

Rice Fritters84 recipes

Tomato Bisque61 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Okra and Tomatoes Stewed