Why it works: Almond and biscuit match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 388 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓
Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the tomatoes
Cut off the tops of the tomatoes, leaving a hole the size of a threepenny bit.
Squeeze out the juice and seeds from the tomatoes.
Make the filling
In a bowl, combine the tomato juice, onion, parsley, mixed herbs, and mushrooms or cheese.
Melt the butter in a pan and fry the mixture until fragrant.
Add enough almond biscuit crumbs to create a moist paste.
Fill the tomatoes with the mixture, shaping them back to their original form.
Bake and serve
Top each tomato with a few crumbs and a small piece of butter.
Place the filled tomatoes in a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) until tender, basting with a little oil or butter.
Serve on a dish with fried parsley around.
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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Almond + biscuittop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together388 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,719 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Hold the filling and soften as they bake, becoming tender and juicy.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the filling and tops brown lightly in the oven.
- Almond biscuit crumbs
- Bind the filling into a moist paste that holds its shape.
- Mushrooms or parmesan cheese
- Add savoury depth and body to the filling.
The step that matters
Fry the filling until fragrant. Frying the onion and herbs in butter softens them and drives off excess moisture, so the filling stays thick and does not make the tomato shells watery during baking.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, butter, onion, parsley, mushroom, biscuit, pepper):
- Beansfits better
- Lentilsfits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Almondthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, butter, onion, parsley, mushroom, biscuit, pepper. 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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