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Stuffed Tomatoes, Milanaise

Tomatoes stuffed with minced meat, bacon, and bread crumbs, baked until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes, Milanaise

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Cut out the stem ends of the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds and some pulp.

  2. Dust the insides with salt and pepper, then add a bit of butter to each tomato.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill the tomatoes with the minced cold meat mixed with minced raw bacon and lightly season with salt and pepper.

  2. Sprinkle fried bread crumbs thickly over the top.

  3. Place the tomatoes in a well-greased baking bag and cook in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

  4. Serve on a very hot dish.

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

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

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

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

  3. Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Serve as the hollow shell that holds the filling and softens while baking.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the tomato interior as it bakes.
Minced cold meat
Forms the main filling, providing savory bulk and body.
Minced raw bacon
Adds fat that renders during baking, contributing moisture and savory flavor to the filling.
Fried bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping over the filling as it bakes.

The step that matters

Bake in a well-greased baking bag. The tomatoes must be enclosed and baked only briefly so they soften and heat through without collapsing or drying out. The short, hot bake sets the filling while the crumbs brown on top.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Tomatothe original
  4. Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, meat, bread. 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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