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Scalloped Tomatoes

A baked tomato dish with butter, salt, pepper, sugar, breadcrumbs, optional onion juice and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Scalloped Tomatoes

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scalloped Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Scald and peel the tomatoes.

  2. Butter a baking dish and cover the bottom with a layer of tomatoes cut into half‑inch slices.

Layer and season

  1. Season with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and a sprinkle of sugar.

  2. Cover with a thin layer of buttered bread crumbs (add onion juice for improvement).

  3. Fill the dish with layers, ensuring crumbs are on top.

  4. Optionally, add a layer of grated cheese to each layer of tomato.

Bake

  1. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for one hour, less time if using a small quantity.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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

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

  5. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the main body and moisture that softens and bakes into the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the crumbs brown on top.
Bread crumbs
Form a topping that absorbs juices and browns as it bakes.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Bake at 400°F (200°C) for one hour, less time if using a small quantity.. Tomatoes release liquid as they heat. Baking long enough lets the liquid thicken slightly while the crumbs brown, while overbaking can dry the topping and make the dish watery or uneven.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, butter, pepper, sugar, bread, cheese):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, butter, pepper, sugar, bread, 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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