Name: Baked Peppers
Ingredients: 6 large sweet peppers; 1 pound ground cooked steak; 4 ounces grated cheese; 1 large tomato; 1 tablespoon butter; salt to taste; pepper to taste; 3 or 4 crushed crackers

Why it works: Pepper and tomato 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 ↓

Baked Peppers

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

Cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds.
Soak the peppers in salt water for 1 hour.

Stuff and bake

In a bowl, mix the ground steak, grated cheese, chopped tomato, butter, salt, pepper, and crushed crackers.
Stuff the mixture into the peppers.
Place the stuffed peppers in a pan with a little water around them.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

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.

Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + tomatotop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,896 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + cheesetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,861 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Ground cooked steak: Provides the main filling and savory meaty body.
Grated cheese: Melts into the filling, adding richness and binding it together.
Crushed crackers: Absorb moisture and help the filling hold its shape.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and helps the filling brown lightly.
Large tomato: Adds moisture and a touch of acidity to the filling.