Name: Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients: one cup of grated bread crumbs; six medium-sized tomatoes; three rashers of bacon browning slightly; one onion; half cooked; one egg well beaten; parsley; pepper; salt

Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

Take six medium-sized tomatoes, cut off the tops and dig out the pulp, place the empty skins in a pie plate.
Fry two or three rashers of bacon until browning slightly, but not crisp.
Remove the bacon from the pan and chop it with a meat chopper.

Make the filling

Add one onion, parsley, red pepper, salt to taste, the tomato pulp, and one cup of grated bread crumbs to the pan.
Cook the mixture a few minutes or until the onions are half cooked.
Add one egg well beaten, stirring rapidly in order to mix well.
Remove from the fire and put the mixture into the empty tomato shells, covering the tops with grated bread crumbs.

Bake

Bake in a moderate oven for about twenty-five minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

649Calories

25 gProtein

10 gFat

112 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bacon	1 slice cooked (8g)	43
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

By New Orleans Federation of Clubs. 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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,398 recipes

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

Tomatoes: Hollowed shells that hold the filling and cook down into a soft, juicy base.
Bread crumbs: Absorb the tomato pulp and bacon juices, giving the filling body so it holds its shape.
Egg: Binds the filling as it sets during baking, holding the crumbs and pulp together.
Bacon: Adds fat and savory flavor to the filling as it browns in the pan.

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Spinachfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, tomato, egg, parsley, 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.