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Shrimps in Tomato Cases

A dish of shrimp mixed with tomato pulp, butter, onion, breadcrumbs, and cream, stuffed into tomato shells.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓

Shrimps in Tomato Cases

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Remove the tops of the tomatoes and scoop out the pulp.

  2. Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the onion slices until soft.

  3. Add the tomato pulp to the pan and cook for 10 minutes.

  4. Stir in the bread crumbs and cream until thick and smooth.

  5. Add the shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes.

  6. Season with salt and paprika, then fill the tomato cases with the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Serve the tomatoes raw or place them in a buttered baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) until heated through.

  2. Serve with toasted bread.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

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

  5. Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,931 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Shrimp
Provides the main protein and a firm, slightly sweet bite in the filling.
Tomatoes
Form the edible cases and, once cooked down, add moisture and acidity to the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor when frying the onion.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and thicken the filling, giving it a soft, spoonable texture.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, smoothing the filling and softening its texture.

The step that matters

Cooking the shrimp briefly. Shrimp cook quickly and turn rubbery when overcooked, so adding them last for only 2-3 minutes keeps them tender while the filling stays hot.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, butter, onion, bread, cream):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, butter, onion, bread, cream. 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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