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Ochra, or Gumbo

A stew of beef, okra, tomatoes, and ham in a seasoned broth, served with toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Ochra, or Gumbo

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the beef, okra, and cold water in a pot, just enough to cover them.

  2. Let the mixture stew for 1 hour.

  3. Add the sliced tomatoes and 2 quarts of boiling water.

  4. Add more water if needed to cover the meat and vegetables.

  5. Boil for 45 minutes, skimming often with a spoon.

  6. When the contents are well cooked, stir in the butter, cayenne pepper, and salt if needed.

  7. Strain the soup and serve with squares of light, crisp toast floating on top.

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

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

  3. Tomato + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Okra
Releases its natural starch during long cooking, thickening the broth and giving gumbo its body.
Beef
Provides savory meaty flavor and rich body as it stews slowly in the broth.
Tomatoes
Adds acidity and brightness that balance the richness of the meat and broth.
Butter
Adds fat and a rounded, smooth richness stirred in at the end.
Ham or pickled pork
Adds smoky, salty savoriness that deepens the broth's flavor.

The step that matters

Skim during the 45-minute boil. Foam and fat rise to the surface as the broth boils. Skimming them off keeps the soup clear and prevents a greasy, muddy taste.

Swap the okra

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

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

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

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