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Tomatoes Au Gratin with Eggs

A baked tomato gratin topped with breadcrumbs and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomatoes Au Gratin with Eggs

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Cut the tops off the tomatoes and remove a little of the pulp.

  3. Fill each tomato with a spoonful of tomato rice.

  4. Top with breadcrumbs seasoned with celery salt and cayenne.

  5. Grease a baking dish with dripping or butter and place the tomatoes in it.

  6. Bake for about 30 minutes.

Layer and finish

  1. In a fireproof dish, layer browned breadcrumbs, sliced tomatoes, and repeat until full, finishing with dry breadcrumbs on top.

  2. Dot with butter and bake in the oven.

  3. When nearly done, carefully crack an egg on each corner of the dish and return to the oven until the eggs are set.

  4. Serve hot.

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 + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

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

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

  5. Rice + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the edible container and add moisture and mild acidity to the dish.
Eggs
Set when baked, binding the dish and giving it a custardy, tender texture.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping and absorb juices from the tomatoes.
Dripping or butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the breadcrumbs brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs when nearly done. Eggs set quickly with heat, so cracking them in too early or baking too long leaves them runny or rubbery. Adding them near the end lets the whites set gently while the yolks stay soft.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, celery, pepper, butter, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, celery, pepper, butter, egg. 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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