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 ↓
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 the tomatoes
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Select large tomatoes of even size and scoop out a small place in the top.
Make the stuffing
In a skillet, fry the chopped onion in butter until nearly done.
Add bread crumbs, moistened with milk or water, and season with pepper and salt.
Alternatively, for a meat stuffing, chop cold meat or fowl with a small piece of bacon. Fry the onion in butter, add the meat, bread crumbs, pepper, and salt, and cook for a minute.
Mix well, add the egg yolk, and fill the tomatoes.
Bake and serve
Fill the tomatoes with the stuffing and place a small bit of butter on each.
Place in a baking dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs and small bits of butter, and bake.
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Tomatoes
- Hold the stuffing and soften as they bake, becoming tender and juicy.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and give the stuffing body, with a light crust on top.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor, and helps the topping brown in the oven.
- Onion
- Adds sweetness and aroma when fried gently in butter.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the stuffing so it holds together when filled and baked.
The step that matters
Scooping the tomatoes. Scooping out too little or too much of the top and flesh can weaken the shell so it collapses, or leave too little room for the stuffing.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, butter, bread, milk, pepper, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, butter, bread, milk, pepper, egg. 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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