Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Fried Tomatoes I
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Cut ripe tomatoes with skins on into 1-inch thick slices.
Sprinkle salt and sugar on both sides of the tomato slices.
Dredge the slices in cracker crumbs.
Fry and serve
Heat equal parts of butter and lard in a pan.
Fry the tomato slices on both sides until brown.
Carefully remove the fried tomatoes to a hot platter.
Pour sweet cream into the remaining fat in the pan.
Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour the cream sauce over the tomatoes on the platter.
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.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Tomato + creamtop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,034 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ripe tomatoes
- Provide the main body of the dish, softening slightly while frying to a tender interior.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned coating that protects the tomato and adds texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the coating brown in the pan.
- Lard
- Provides a high-temperature frying fat that browns the crumb coating evenly.
- Sweet cream
- Forms a rich sauce with the pan fat that coats the fried tomatoes.
The step that matters
Fry the tomato slices on both sides until brown. The crumb coating needs enough hot fat to brown without burning. Moderate heat lets the tomato warm through while the crumbs toast, giving a crisp crust and a soft interior.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, cream):
- Potatofits better
- Leekfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, cream. 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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