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Stuffed Tomatoes

A baked dish of tomatoes filled with a seasoned meat and breadcrumb mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

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

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

  2. Cut out the stem end of the tomatoes and remove some of the inside, leaving a ¼ inch thickness.

  3. In a bowl, mix the chopped meat with salt, pepper, and bread crumbs softened with melted butter.

Stuff and bake

  1. Stuff the tomatoes with the meat mixture.

  2. Place the tomatoes in a baking pan and add a little hot water to the bottom.

  3. Baste the tomatoes with a mixture of melted butter and hot water while baking.

Serve

  1. Serve in a hot dish.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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

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

  4. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Hold the stuffing and soften as they bake, releasing juice that moistens the filling.
Chopped meat
Forms the main filling, giving the stuffing its substance and savory flavor.
Fine bread crumbs
Absorb melted butter and help bind the meat mixture so it holds its shape.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and moisture, and helps the crumbs and tomato browning.

The step that matters

Adding hot water to the pan and basting. Hot water in the pan creates steam that keeps the tomatoes and meat from drying out in the oven. Basting with butter and water adds moisture and fat to the surface while it bakes.

Swap the tomato

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

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

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

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