Name: To Can Corn, Tomatoes, and Okra for Soup
Ingredients: 2 dozen ears of corn, boiled on the cob; 1 peck (about 9-10 lbs) of tomatoes, peeled and chopped fine; ¼ peck (about 2-3 lbs) of small, tender okra; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste

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 ↓

To Can Corn, Tomatoes, and Okra for Soup

Ingredients

2 dozen ears of corn, boiled on the cob
1 peck (about 9-10 lbs) of tomatoes, peeled and chopped fine
¼ peck (about 2-3 lbs) of small, tender okra
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

Boil the corn on the cob until well cooked, then cut it off the cob.
Boil the chopped tomatoes for 30 minutes.
Cook the okra until tender, then drain the water.

Combine and can

Add the corn and okra to the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and pack into cans while boiling hot.
Seal the cans.

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).
Corn + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,099 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Corn + okratop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together161 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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

Corn: Adds sweetness and body to the soup as it is cooked down with the tomatoes.
Tomatoes: Provide the liquid base and acidity that carries the other vegetables.
Okra: Adds body and a thickening quality as it softens during cooking.

The step that matters

Packing the cans while boiling hot. The soup must be packed while still boiling hot so that the heat helps drive air out of the cans and supports a proper seal. Letting it cool before packing risks incomplete sealing and spoilage.

Swap the okra

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, tomato, 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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Corn Fritters203 recipes

Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes

Tomato Bisque61 recipes

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To Can Corn, Tomatoes, and Okra for Soup