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Stuffed Tomatoes

Tomatoes filled with a mixture of buttered cracker crumbs, optional rice or pork, and optionally a mushroom and cheese sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cut a thin slice from the stem end of each tomato.

  3. Scoop out the insides of each tomato.

  4. Sprinkle the insides with salt and pepper.

  5. Mix the tomato pulp with an equal amount of buttered cracker crumbs.

  6. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, and onion juice.

  7. Use cooked rice or macaroni instead of crumbs (optional).

  8. Fill the tomatoes with the mixture.

  9. Replace the top slice of tomato.

  10. Optionally, cover with a thin slice of salt pork.

  11. Secure the pork slice with a toothpick.

Make the mushroom sauce

  1. Stew chopped mushrooms in boiling water for five minutes.

  2. Drain the mushrooms.

  3. Melt butter in a saucepan.

  4. Stir in flour, salt, and paprika.

  5. Add the drained mushroom water and enough cream to make one cup.

  6. Cook for ten minutes, stirring.

  7. Add mushrooms and grated cheese.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the tomatoes with this mixture.

  2. Cover with buttered crumbs before baking.

  3. Bake in a granite pan with a little stock or hot water.

  4. Serve on slices of toast or surrounded by brown sauce.

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. Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

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

  4. Pork + mushroomtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  5. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 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

Tomatoes
Form the edible shell that holds the filling and releases moisture while baking.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb tomato pulp moisture and bind the filling so it holds its shape.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavor and a tender, meaty texture to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the butter and liquid into a smooth, body-rich sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky texture to the sauce.
Grated cheese
Melts into the sauce, adding savory flavor and extra richness.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, rice, pork, sauce, mushroom, cheese):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, rice, pork, sauce, mushroom, cheese. 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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