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Fried Tomatoes

Sliced tomato coated in breadcrumbs, fried with onions, then baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Fried Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Peel and slice the tomato into ½-inch thick slices, removing the seeds.

  2. Roll the tomato slices in breadcrumbs.

Fry

  1. In a skillet, melt the butter.

  2. Fry the onion slices until golden.

  3. Remove the onion slices from the skillet.

Cook and bake

  1. Add the tomato slices to the skillet.

  2. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.

  3. Cover the skillet with parchment paper.

  4. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.

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

Tomato
Provides the juicy body and slightly tart flavor of the dish.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp coating that browns and helps hold the tomato slices together.
Butter
Adds fat for frying, promoting browning and a rich, nutty flavor.
Onion
Frying until golden adds sweetness and aroma to the butter.

The step that matters

Bake in a hot oven for 10 to 15 minutes. A hot oven browns and crisps the breadcrumb coating while the tomato softens. Baking too long dries out the tomato, while too little time leaves the coating pale and the centre watery.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, butter, 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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