Name: Escaloped Tomatoes
Ingredients: 6 large ripe tomatoes or 1 can of tomatoes; 2 teaspoons sugar; 1 cup rolled crackers; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons butter; ½ cup hot water

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 ↓

Escaloped 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.

Assemble

Slice the tomatoes and layer them in a baking dish.
Sprinkle a little sugar over the tomatoes.
Add a layer of rolled crackers, followed by a sprinkle of pepper and salt.
Repeat with another layer of tomatoes and another layer of crackers.
On the top layer of crackers, place bits of butter and sprinkle with pepper and salt.
Pour ½ cup of hot water over the entire dish.

Bake

Bake for 45 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,918 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,401 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 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 juice that softens and flavours the dish as it bakes.
Rolled crackers: Soak up tomato juice and bind the layers, giving the dish a thicker, more structured texture.
Butter: Adds richness and fat that helps the top layer brown as it bakes.
Sugar: Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.