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Baked Tomatoes

Baked tomatoes stuffed with cabbage, onion, breadcrumbs, and sweet cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked 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

  1. Cut a thin slice from the blossom side of each tomato and remove the pulp without breaking the shell.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped cabbage, onion, bread crumbs, tomato pulp, pepper, salt, sugar, and sweet cream. Mix well.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill each tomato with the mixture and replace the slice on top.

  2. Place the tomatoes stem side down in a buttered baking dish. Add a small lump of butter on each tomato and enough water to cover the bottom of the dish (optional).

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.

  4. Serve in the baking dish.

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. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Hollowed shells hold the filling, and their juices steam the tomatoes as they bake.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a tender, slightly sweet vegetable body to the filling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid from the filling so it holds together rather than running out.
Sweet cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the filling soft as it bakes.

The step that matters

Remove the pulp without breaking the shell. The tomato shell is the only container for the filling. A torn wall lets the filling leak into the dish and leaves the tomato unable to hold its shape while baking.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, bread, pepper, sugar, cream, butter. 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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