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Cheese and Tomato Toast with Eggs

A toast topped with a tomato and egg mixture, cheese, and spices, baked and served with lime juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese and Tomato Toast with Eggs

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the tomato and egg mixture

  1. Scald the tomatoes.

  2. Skin the tomatoes.

  3. Mash the tomatoes in a bowl.

  4. Break 3 eggs into the tomatoes.

  5. Beat the eggs quickly for a few minutes.

  6. Add the powdered chili and a little salt to the mixture.

Cook the mixture

  1. Brown the sliced onions in ghee in a frying pan.

  2. Pour the tomato and egg mixture into the pan, stirring continually.

  3. Remove the pan from heat.

  4. Mix in the cheese.

Bake and serve

  1. Spread the mixture on slices of toast soaked in coconut milk.

  2. Beat the remaining egg.

  3. Spread the beaten egg over the top of each toast.

  4. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes.

  5. Serve hot with a few drops of lime juice on each toast.

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. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 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. Coconut + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

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

  5. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 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

Eggs
Bind the tomato and cheese mixture and set into a soft, custard-like topping.
Cheese
Adds richness and savory flavor and melts into the mixture for a creamy texture.
Tomatoes
Provide moisture, acidity and body to the mixture.
Toast bread
Serves as the base that soaks up coconut milk and holds the topping.
Coconut milk
Moistens the toast so it stays soft under the topping and adds mild sweetness.
Sliced onions
Browned in ghee, they add sweetness and savory depth.

The step that matters

Remove the pan from heat before mixing in the cheese. Cheese turns stringy and oily when overheated. Taking the pan off the heat first lets it melt smoothly into the egg and tomato mixture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, tomato, egg, bread, ghee, coconut, milk):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, tomato, egg, bread, ghee, coconut, milk. 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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