Name: Baked Tomatoes
Ingredients: 6 tomatoes; ½ cup bread crumbs; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 1 ounce butter; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt') to taste; 1 ounce butter (for the pan); ½ cup water

Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Baked Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the tomatoes

Wash the tomatoes and cut them in half.
Remove the pulp and seeds from each half.

Stuff and tie

In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs, chopped onion, butter, pepper, and salt.
Fill each tomato half with the mixture and press the halves together.
Tie the halves with a piece of thread.

Bake

Place them in a pan with butter and water.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until soft.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Form the main body and soften into a juicy, tender filling vessel when baked.
Bread crumbs: Absorb juices and bind the stuffing so it holds its shape in the tomato.
Onion: Adds savory aroma and sweetness that deepens as it cooks in the butter.
Butter: Adds richness and fat that carries flavor and helps the filling brown lightly.