Name: Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients: 6 good-sized tomatoes; 1 pint bread crumbs; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley; 1 tablespoon grated onion; 1 teaspoon salt; a pinch of pepper; 2 tablespoons melted butter; ½ cup water

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Cut a slice from the stem ends of the tomatoes.
Scoop out the seeds and hard centers.

Stuff and bake

In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs, parsley, onion, salt, pepper, and melted butter.
Stuff the mixture into the tomatoes, heaping it slightly.
Place the stuffed tomatoes in a baking pan and add the water.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 45 minutes, basting once or twice with melted butter.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,398 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Serve as the hollow shell that holds the filling while the bread crumb mixture cooks.
Bread crumbs: Form the bulk of the stuffing and soak up butter and juices to keep it moist.
Melted butter: Adds richness and moisture, and helps the top of the stuffing brown as it bakes.

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Potatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, bread, parsley, 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.