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Stuffed Tomatoes

Tomatoes filled with a mixture of bread crumbs, chicken, ham, butter, spices, and tomato pulp, then baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cut off the stem end of each tomato and carefully remove the pulp and seeds, leaving the walls intact.

  3. In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs, cold chicken, cold ham, melted butter, pepper, salt, tomato pulp, cloves, and allspice until well combined and moist but not too soft.

  4. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and sugar inside each tomato before stuffing.

Stuff and bake

  1. Stuff each tomato with the mixture and place them close together in a baking dish.

  2. Pour a little melted butter over each tomato and sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs.

  3. Bake for 30 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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ripe round tomatoes
Their cooked walls form the edible cup that holds the filling and softens as it bakes.
Bread crumbs
Absorb juices and bind the filling, keeping it moist but not soft; the topping browns lightly.
Cold chicken
Adds the main meaty body and savory flavor to the stuffing.
Cold ham
Adds salty, savory flavor and body to the stuffing.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the topping brown in the oven.
Tomato pulp
Adds moisture and concentrated tomato flavor to the filling.

The step that matters

Hollowing the tomatoes. Remove the pulp and seeds without piercing the walls. The walls must stay intact to hold the filling and keep it from leaking into the baking dish.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, bread, chicken, ham, butter, pepper, clove):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, bread, chicken, ham, butter, pepper, clove. 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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