Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Fried 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 the tomatoes
Wash and cut the tomatoes in half, placing them skin side down in a baking pan.
Cut the butter into small pieces and place over the tomatoes, then dust with salt and pepper.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes.
Fry and make the sauce
Fry the tomatoes slowly over a fire until tender without turning.
Carefully lift the tomatoes with a cake turner and place on a heated dish.
Draw the baking pan over a quick fire, stir until the butter is brown.
Add the flour and mix until smooth, then gradually stir in the milk.
Continue stirring until boiling, season with salt and pepper, and pour over the tomatoes before serving.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Tomato + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,226 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 juices, softening into a tender, moist base for the dish.
- Butter
- Browns in the pan for nutty flavour and carries heat to cook the tomatoes and fat for the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the browned butter and milk into a smooth, pourable sauce.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which thickens when brought to a boil with the flour.
The step that matters
Stir the butter until brown. Butter browns quickly over a hot fire and can burn, turning bitter. Stop when it is golden brown, since the flour and milk are added straight after and the sauce depends on that flavour.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, flour, milk):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Chivefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, flour, 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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