Name: Stuffing for Tomatoes
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon butter; 4 shallots, peeled and finely chopped; 3 good-sized mushrooms, finely chopped; 2 raw sausages, meat removed; ½ bean garlic, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon chopped parsley; 1 teaspoon chopped chives; ½ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon white pepper; 2 teaspoons sugar; 3 tablespoons bread crumbs; 1 raw egg yolk; 6 good-sized tomatoes; ½ teaspoon salt for seasoning; ¼ teaspoon white pepper for seasoning; ½ teaspoon melted butter for topping

Why it works: Shallot and chive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 450 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

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.

Shallot + chivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together450 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,737 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Garlic + chivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,149 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,150 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolk: Binds the stuffing so it holds its shape when cooked.
Bread crumbs: Absorb moisture and give the stuffing body and texture.
Sausage meat: Adds fat and savoury flavour, keeping the filling moist.
Mushrooms: Add moisture and earthy depth to the stuffing.
Shallots: Soften during cooking to add mild sweetness and aroma.

The step that matters

Cooling the stuffing before filling. Adding the raw egg yolk to hot stuffing can scramble it and thin the mixture, so letting it cool helps it bind and hold its shape in the tomatoes.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, shallot, mushroom, meat, garlic, parsley, chive):

Capersfits better
Thymefits better
Tarragonfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, shallot, mushroom, meat, garlic, parsley, chive. 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.

Stuffing for Tomatoes