Name: Scalloped Tomatoes
Ingredients: one teaspoonful of salt; one quarter teaspoonful of pepper; a tablespoonful of sugar; a cupful of bread-crumbs which have been moistened; a tablespoonful of melted butter

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scalloped Tomatoes

Ingredients

one teaspoonful of salt
one quarter teaspoonful of pepper
a tablespoonful of sugar
a cupful of bread-crumbs which have been moistened
a tablespoonful of melted butter

Directions

Prepare

Season a can of tomatoes with one teaspoonful of salt and one quarter teaspoonful of pepper.
Spread a shallow baking dish with a thin layer of bread crumbs.
Pour the seasoned tomatoes into the dish.
Sprinkle a tablespoonful of sugar over the tomatoes and add a few drops of onion juice.

Bake and serve

Cover the top with a cupful of bread crumbs that have been moistened with a tablespoonful of melted butter.
Bake in a hot oven for fifteen minutes.
Serve in the same dish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

157Calories

0 gProtein

12 gFat

14 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
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 Mary Ronald. 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Sugar + breadtop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,638 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 (in the method): Provide the main body and acidity that forms the dish's sauce base.
Bread crumbs: Absorb tomato juices and form a soft layer that thickens the dish as it bakes.
Butter: Adds fat to the moistened crumb topping, helping it brown in the oven.
Sugar: Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.

“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.