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Stuffed Tomatoes

A baked dish of tomatoes filled with a mixture of meat, pork, bread crumbs, tomato pulp, pepper, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Select enough large, smooth tomatoes to fill a baking dish.

  3. Cut a piece from the top of each tomato to serve as a cover.

  4. Scoop out the pulp without injuring the skin.

Make the filling

  1. Chop a few spoonfuls of the meat from the soup.

  2. Mix the chopped meat with a little chopped pork and bread crumbs.

  3. Add the tomato pulp, pepper, and sugar to the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the tomato skins with the mixture and replace the tops.

  2. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and brown.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  3. Tomato + porktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Meat + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,208 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Large smooth tomatoes
Form the shell that holds the filling and becomes tender as it bakes.
Chopped meat from soup
Adds savory meaty flavor to the filling.
Chopped pork
Adds richness and fat, keeping the filling moist during baking.
Bread crumbs
Absorb juices and help bind the filling so it holds its shape.
Tomato pulp
Adds moisture and tomato flavor to the filling.

The step that matters

Bake covered, then uncover and brown. Baking covered first lets the filling cook through and the tomatoes soften without drying out. Uncovering at the end allows surface moisture to evaporate so the top browns rather than steams.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, pork, bread, pepper, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, pork, bread, pepper, sugar. 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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