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Scalloped Tomatoes

A baked tomato dish layered with bread crumbs, butter, onion, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Scalloped Tomatoes

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 ↓

Scalloped 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. Butter a baking dish.

Layer the dish

  1. Layer half of the bread crumbs.

  2. Layer half of the sliced tomatoes seasoned with pepper, salt, and sugar.

  3. Add half of the onion slices.

  4. Repeat the layers, finishing with the remaining crumbs.

Make the topping and bake

  1. Beat the egg in a bowl.

  2. Add a pinch of salt.

  3. Stir in the milk.

  4. Mix in toasted bread crumbs until thick enough to spread over the tomatoes.

  5. Dot with bits of butter.

  6. Sprinkle the top with baking powder.

  7. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes until golden 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.

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.

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

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 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

Bread crumbs
Absorb the liquid and give the dish body so it holds its layers.
Tomatoes
Provide moisture and a bright acidic flavour that cooks down into the dish.
Egg
Sets when heated, giving the topping structure and helping it hold together.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness, thickening with the crumbs into a spreadable topping.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown as it bakes.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the tomatoes.

The step that matters

Thickening the topping. The crumbs must be stiff enough to spread. Too much liquid makes the topping runny, so it soaks into the tomatoes and bakes soggy instead of setting. Egg proteins set with heat, so the topping firms as it bakes.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, tomato, pepper, sugar, egg, milk. 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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