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Stuffed Tomatoes

Stuffed tomatoes filled with seasoned steak, bacon, onion, and cracker crumbs, baked until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut the tops off the tomatoes and remove the seeds and pulp.

  2. Chop the steak, bacon, and tomato insides finely.

  3. Mix in the fried onion, salt, white pepper, cayenne pepper, parsley, and rolled crackers.

  4. If the mixture is too stiff, thin it with stock, water, or cold gravy.

Stuff and bake

  1. Fill the tomatoes with the mixture, packing it tightly.

  2. Sift cracker crumbs over the tops of the stuffed tomatoes.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  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. Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lean steak
Provides the main meaty body and substance of the filling.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that carries through the filling as it cooks.
Rolled crackers
Absorb moisture and bind the filling so it holds its shape when baked.
Tomatoes
Serve as the edible cups and add moisture and acidity as they bake.

The step that matters

Packing the filling tightly. Loose filling can shrink and leave gaps or air pockets as it bakes, so pressing it firmly into each tomato helps it hold together and keeps the tomato walls supporting it.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, pepper, parsley. 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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