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Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers filled with minced meat, onion, butter, bread crumbs, and tomato sauce, baked until heated.

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 ↓

Stuffed Peppers

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. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the lining and seeds with scissors.

  2. Soak the peppers in cold water for 30 minutes, then drain.

Stuff and bake

  1. In a bowl, mix the minced meat, onion, melted butter, salt, pepper, and bread crumbs.

  2. Fill the peppers with the meat mixture.

  3. Place the stuffed peppers in a baking dish and add the stock or water.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Serve

  1. Serve hot with tomato sauce.

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. Pepper + tomatotop 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. Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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

Green peppers
Hollow shells that hold the filling and soften as they bake.
Minced cold meat
Provides the main filling and savory flavor.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help bind the filling so it holds its shape.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the filling moist.
Tomato sauce
Adds acidity and moisture for serving alongside the peppers.

The step that matters

Soak the peppers before stuffing. Soaking softens the pepper walls so they cook through in the same time as the filling. Skipping it can leave the peppers tough or raw while the filling is already hot.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, meat, bread, tomato, sauce. 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.

More stuffed peppers recipes

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