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Okra Gumbo

A stew of chicken, okra, and rice simmered in a roux of lard and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Okra Gumbo

Ingredients

Directions

Brown and stew

  1. In a pot, heat the lard and brown the flour.

  2. Add the chicken and stew for 30 minutes.

Simmer and serve

  1. Stir in the onion, thyme, parsley, and marjoram.

  2. Pour in the boiling water and add the rice.

  3. Cook for 1 hour.

  4. Stir in the chopped okra and serve.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + okratop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together206 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Thyme + okratop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together145 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

Lard
Fat that carries heat for browning the flour and adds savory flavor.
Flour
Browned in the fat, it forms a roux that thickens the gumbo and deepens its color.
Chicken
Provides the main protein and meaty flavor that enriches the broth as it stews.
Okra
Releases mucilage during cooking, adding body and helping to thicken the broth.
Rice
Its starch releases into the simmering liquid, adding further body to the gumbo.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it cooks, building aromatic depth into the broth.

The step that matters

Browning the flour in the lard. Flour browned in hot fat forms a roux. Cooking it too fast can scorch it, leaving a bitter taste, while stirring steadily gives an even, nutty brown that thickens and flavors the gumbo.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, chicken, thyme, parsley, marjoram, rice, okra):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, chicken, thyme, parsley, marjoram, rice, okra. 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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