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Stuffed Bell Peppers

A savory dish of bell peppers filled with a seasoned meat and cracker crumb mixture, baked and served with toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Stuffed Bell Peppers

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 the peppers

  1. Cut a slice from the stem end of each pepper and scoop out the seeds.

  2. Soak the peppers in salted water for 1 hour.

  3. Drop the peppers in boiling lard until tender, or parboil for 10 minutes. Remove and place on a sieve to drain.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, mix cracker crumbs, minced meat, grated onion, chopped parsley, minced garlic, and chopped tomato. Season the mixture with pepper, salt, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, and melted butter.

  2. Stuff the pepper shells with the mixture.

Cook and serve

  1. Whip the eggs and dip the stuffed peppers in the egg.

  2. Fry the peppers in boiling lard until browned, or place them upright in a buttered pan. Add boiling water to the pan and cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes, basting frequently.

  3. Serve with triangles of 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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the coating so it sets and holds the crumbs to the pepper shells.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the filling body so it holds its shape.
Minced meat
Adds savory richness and protein-based structure to the filling.
Tomato
Adds moisture and gentle acidity that keeps the filling from drying out.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the filling brown lightly.

The step that matters

Fry or bake until the peppers are fully tender and browned. Peppers must soften through, not just brown outside. Basting with the boiling water keeps the filling moist while the shells cook, so underdone or dried-out peppers are the usual failure.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, meat, onion, parsley, garlic, tomato, thyme):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, meat, onion, parsley, garlic, tomato, thyme. 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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