Name: Stewed Tomatas
Ingredients: 8 fine tomatoes; ½ cup gravy; 1 ounce fine bread crumbs; 1 ounce butter, softened; pepper or cayenne, to taste; coarse sea salt, to taste; small mushrooms, optional

Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Stewed Tomatas

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Slice off the tops of the tomatoes and scoop out the insides.
Press the pulp through a sieve and mix with bread crumbs, butter, pepper, and salt.

Fill and bake

Fill the tomatoes with the mixture.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 10 minutes.

Serve

Serve with brown gravy.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,719 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

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

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 and add juicy, acidic flavour to the filling.
Bread crumbs: Absorb tomato liquid and give the filling body so it holds its shape.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, softening the filling and helping it brown lightly.
Gravy: Adds savoury moisture and depth when served alongside the baked tomatoes.