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 ↓
Broiled Tomatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the tomatoes into thick slices without peeling.
Brush the slices with melted butter.
Broil and serve
Broil the tomatoes, turning frequently until cooked.
Place them on a hot dish.
Season each slice with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and a piece of butter.
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.
-
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body of the dish, softening and concentrating in flavor under the broiler.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat that carries flavor and helps the tomato surfaces brown under high heat.
The step that matters
Broil the tomatoes, turning frequently until cooked. Frequent turning exposes each slice to the direct heat evenly, so the surfaces brown without the slices drying out or burning before the centers soften.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper. 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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