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Tomatoes with Walnuts

A baked tomato dish with walnuts, bread crumbs, cheese, eggs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Norton, Caroline Trask · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Tomatoes with Walnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Take six ripe tomatoes (or one quart of canned ones), plunge them in boiling water, peel, and place in a buttered sauce pan to bake.

  2. When tender, rub through a sieve.

Make the filling

  1. Cut one small onion and cook in two tablespoonfuls of butter until a light brown.

  2. Add the onion to the tomatoes, with one-half cup of finely chopped walnut meats, one-half cup of fine, fresh bread crumbs, and one-fourth cup of grated cheese.

  3. Stir over the fire until all are well blended.

  4. Add two slightly beaten eggs, salt, and pepper; let cook for five minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve hot on rounds of toast.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

391Calories
16 gProtein
29 gFat
18 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Meatnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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. See the original page.

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

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

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,039 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
Provide the main body and moisture of the dish once softened and sieved.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it thicken as it cooks.
Walnut meats
Add crunch and rich, nutty texture against the soft tomato base.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the mixture become rich and cohesive.
Bread crumbs (in the method)
Absorb liquid and give the filling body and a softer texture.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten eggs. Eggs set when heated, so they should be added to the hot mixture and cooked only briefly; overcooking can make them curdle or turn dry and grainy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, walnut, meat, cheese, tomato, egg, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, walnut, meat, cheese, tomato, egg, 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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