Name: Scalloped Tomatoes
Ingredients: 4 large tomatoes, peeled; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon pepper; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 cup bread crumbs or rolled crackers; 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scalloped Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Assemble

Cover the bottom of a deep dish with peeled tomatoes.
Sprinkle salt, pepper, and butter over the tomatoes.
Add a layer of bread crumbs or rolled crackers.
Repeat layers of tomatoes and crumbs until the dish is filled.
Cover the top with crumbs.
If using sugar, omit the pepper.
If using canned tomatoes, drain the fluid before using.

Bake

Bake for 30 minutes.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Butter + breadtop 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 + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 and juice that softens and flavours the dish as it bakes.
Bread crumbs or rolled crackers: Form layers that soak up tomato juice and give the dish a structured, crumbly top.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, helping the crumbs brown lightly on top.