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Escalloped Tomatoes

Layered tomatoes, onions, and croutons baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Escalloped Tomatoes

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 ↓

Escalloped Tomatoes

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

  1. Scald the tomatoes.

  2. Peel the tomatoes.

  3. If using canned tomatoes, use half a can.

  4. Cut the bread into half-inch squares.

  5. Butter the bread squares.

  6. Toast the bread squares to make croutons.

  7. Butter a baking dish.

Assemble

  1. Layer the croutons in the bottom of the dish.

  2. Add a layer of tomatoes.

  3. Season the tomatoes with salt, pepper, and some grated onion.

  4. Repeat the layers.

  5. Finish with a layer of bread on top.

  6. Dot the top with bits of butter.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 30 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 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

Tomatoes
Supply the moisture and tangy acidity that form the sauce as the dish bakes.
Bread
Toasted croutons hold their structure and soak up tomato juice without turning mushy.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown as it bakes.
Grated onion
Adds aroma and a sharp savory note that balances the tomatoes.

The step that matters

Toasting the bread squares. Toasting dries the bread so its starch structure stays firm. Untoasted bread would absorb the tomato juice and collapse into a soggy layer rather than staying distinct.

Swap the onion

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

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

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