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Baked Tomatoes

Baked tomatoes filled with a cabbage, onion, and breadcrumb mixture, baked with sweet cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Cut a thin slice from the blossom side of each tomato and remove the pulp with a teaspoon.

  3. In a bowl, combine chopped cabbage, onion, bread crumbs, tomato pulp, pepper, salt, sugar, and sweet cream.

Fill and bake

  1. Mix the filling well and fill each tomato, replacing the slice on top.

  2. Place the tomatoes stem side down in a buttered pie pan and add just enough water to prevent burning.

  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. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the edible shell that holds the filling and softens as it bakes.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a mild, slightly sweet vegetable body to the filling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the juices and help the filling hold its shape while baking.
Sweet cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving the filling a soft, creamy texture.

The step that matters

Add just enough water to the pan. Too little water lets the pan scorch during the long, low bake, while too much would dilute the tomatoes and soften the filling. A thin layer of water gently steams the tomatoes and protects the pan.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, bread, pepper, sugar, cream, butter. 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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