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Stewed Tomatoes

A tomato stew made with butter, sugar, salt, pepper, optional bread, onion, or corn.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Stewed Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Pour boiling water over a dozen sound ripe tomatoes; let them remain for a few moments.

  2. Peel off the skins, slice them and put them over the fire in a well-lined tin or granite-ware saucepan.

Stew and serve

  1. Stew them about twenty minutes.

  2. Add a tablespoonful of butter, salt and pepper to taste.

  3. Let them stew fifteen minutes longer and serve hot.

Optional additions

  1. To thicken, add a little grated bread and a teaspoonful of sugar.

  2. If desired, chop up one onion and add while stewing.

  3. Add as much green corn as there are tomatoes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

157Calories
0 gProtein
12 gFat
14 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 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 F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 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 (in the method)
Form the body of the dish and release juice that becomes the stew.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the finished stew.
Grated bread (in the method)
Absorbs liquid and thickens the stewed tomatoes.
Sugar
Softens the sharp acidity of the tomatoes, adding balance.

The step that matters

Stewing the tomatoes. Tomatoes are mostly water and can scorch on the bottom of a pan if left unattended. Gentle, steady stewing in a lined pan lets them soften and reduce evenly without burning.

“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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