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To Broil Tomatoes

Broiled tomatoes coated in egg and flour, then grilled and topped with butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Broil Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat the grill or broiler.

  2. Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise.

  3. Dip the cut side of each tomato into the beaten egg, then into the wheat flour.

Cook

  1. Place the tomatoes cut side down on a greased grill.

  2. Cook until well browned, then turn them over.

  3. Cook the skin side until thoroughly done.

Season and serve

  1. Top the egg side with butter, coarse sea salt, and black pepper before serving.

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

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

  2. Tomato + wheattop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together468 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  3. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

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

Flour and butter 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 juicy flesh that cooks down under heat.
Beaten egg
Binds the flour to the tomato surface and helps it set and brown.
Wheat flour
Forms a coating that helps the surface brown and hold the egg.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavor across the cooked surface.

The step that matters

Cook until well browned, then turn them over. Browning the cut side before turning builds flavor and a set crust. Turning too early can tear the flour-egg coating and let juices escape.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, wheat, flour, butter, pepper):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, wheat, flour, butter, pepper. 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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