Why it works: Meat and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,924 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Gbeen Peppers, Stuffed and Baked
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
Wash the green peppers.
Boil them in water for 5 minutes.
Remove the peppers from the water and rub off the skins with a wet cloth.
Cut off the stem ends and remove the seeds with a small spoon.
Stuff and bake
Stuff the peppers with minced cold meat mixed with an equal amount of softened stale bread and season with coarse sea salt.
Replace the stems.
Place the peppers in a deep baking dish and pour in enough cold gravy to fill the dish.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes.
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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Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + meattop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Green peppers
- Their thick walls hold the filling and soften as they bake, becoming tender.
- Cold meat
- Forms the savory filling that gives the dish its main body and flavor.
- Stale bread
- Soaks up moisture and binds with the meat, keeping the filling soft rather than dense.
- Cold gravy
- Surrounds the peppers in the dish, adding moisture and flavor as they bake.
The step that matters
Boil the peppers for 5 minutes. Brief boiling softens the pepper walls so they become tender enough to bend and hold the filling. Boiling too long can make them limp and cause them to tear, so timing matters.
“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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