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Stewed Green Tomatoes

A dish of sliced green tomatoes and onions simmered in water, seasoned with salt, pepper, butter, and milk or cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Stewed Green Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and slice the green tomatoes and onions.

Stew

  1. Place the onions at the bottom of a pot and add the tomatoes.

  2. Add enough water to cover the vegetables and cook until tender.

  3. Drain any remaining water.

Finish

  1. Season with coarse sea salt, black pepper, butter, and milk or cream.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

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

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Green tomatoes
Provide the main body of the dish, softening into a tender, mildly tart stew when cooked.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth as they soften during stewing.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the finished stew.
Milk or cream
Adds creaminess and moisture, softening the tartness of the tomatoes.

The step that matters

Drain any remaining water. Excess liquid left in the pot dilutes the flavor and leaves the stew thin. Draining before seasoning keeps the finished dish concentrated and creamy when milk or cream and butter are added.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, butter, milk. 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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