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Stuffed Tomatoes

A tomato shell filled with sausage, bread crumbs, onion, and egg, baked until cooked.

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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Cut thin slices from the stem end of the tomatoes and remove the pulp.

  2. Sprinkle the tomato shells with salt.

  3. Invert the tomato shells for 30 minutes.

Make the filling

  1. In a pan, cook the onion in butter for a few minutes.

  2. Add the sausage meat, bread crumbs, and tomato pulp.

  3. Season to taste and cook. Remove from heat.

  4. Stir in the egg.

Stuff and bake

  1. Fill the tomato shells with the mixture.

  2. Place the stuffed tomatoes in a buttered pan.

  3. Bake for 20 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 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

Eggs
Binds the filling so it holds its shape when baked.
Sausage meat
Provides fat and savory flavor that carries through the filling.
Soft bread crumbs
Absorb juices and give the filling a tender, light body.
Butter
Adds fat and richness while softening the onion.
Ripe tomatoes
Serve as the edible shells and contribute moisture and acidity.

The step that matters

Invert the tomato shells for 30 minutes. Draining excess juice keeps the filling from becoming watery, which would make the shells soggy and dilute the seasoning during baking.

Swap the onion

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

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

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