Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Dumplings, or Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Line small pudding basins with thinly rolled suet or short crust.
Skim the tomatoes and season with coarse sea salt and pepper. Do not add gravy or water.
Cook
Cover with a top crust and cook for 1 hour or more by steaming, boiling, or baking.
You can also use cups instead of pudding basins.
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.
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Tomato
- Supplies juicy, acidic filling that moistens the dumplings as they cook.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pastry tender and rich when cooked.
The step that matters
Do not add gravy or water. The tomatoes release their own juice as they cook. Extra liquid dilutes the filling and makes the crust soggy instead of tender.
“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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