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To Make Gumbo

A stew of okra, chicken, tomatoes, corn, celery, parsley, onion, and seasonings simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Make Gumbo

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a pot, combine sliced okra and cold water; bring to a boil.

  2. Macerate the chicken flesh and bones with a rolling pin until almost jelly-like.

  3. Add the macerated chicken to the pot.

Cook the gumbo

  1. Add scalded tomatoes and grated corn to the pot; stir frequently to prevent burning.

  2. Season with butter, pepper, and salt.

  3. When nearly done, add chopped celery, parsley, and onion.

  4. Stir constantly until the mixture becomes ropy and aromatic.

  5. If desired, add red wine just 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.

  1. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Okra + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together206 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 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

Okras
Release natural thickeners that give the broth its ropy, silky body.
Chickens
Provide rich meat and bone flavour that builds the body of the broth.
Ripe tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that brighten and balance the rich broth.
Sweet corn
Adds sweetness and body to the broth as it cooks down.
Celery
Adds aromatic, savoury depth to the finished gumbo.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savoury base flavour.

The step that matters

Stirring frequently while the tomatoes and corn cook. Sugars and starches in tomatoes and corn can scorch on the bottom of the pot if left still, giving a burnt taste that spreads through the whole batch. Frequent stirring keeps heat even and the mixture from sticking.

Swap the okra

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Okrathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, tomato, corn, butter, pepper, celery, parsley. 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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