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Fried Tomatoes

Fried tomatoes seasoned with pepper and salt, coated in flour, sautéed in butter, finished with cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fried Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the tomatoes without peeling them.

  2. Season with pepper and salt.

  3. Sprinkle flour over the tomatoes.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in butter until browned.

  2. Place on a hot platter.

  3. Add cream to the butter and juices in the pan. Bring to a boil.

  4. Pour over the tomatoes.

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

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the main body and juices that combine with the butter and cream into a sauce.
All-purpose flour
Lightly coats the tomato slices, helping them brown in the butter and thickening the pan juices.
Butter
Conducts heat for frying and adds richness and browning to the tomato slices.
Cream
Adds richness and body to the pan juices, forming a smooth sauce when boiled.

The step that matters

Bring to a boil. Once cream is added to the butter and juices, it must be brought to a boil so it thickens slightly and combines with the flour-dusted pan residue into a sauce. Boiling too little leaves it thin; boiling too long can cause it to reduce excessively or separate.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour, 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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