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Fried Tomatoes

Fried tomatoes are sliced tomatoes coated in flour, pan‑fried, and served with hot cream or milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,481 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓

Fried Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the tomato in half and flour the cut side.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat a skillet until very hot and place the floured side down.

  2. Cook until brown on one side, then turn and cook until done.

  3. Pour the hot cream or milk over the fried tomatoes before serving.

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. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  2. Tomato + flourtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Tomato + creamtop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,034 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Feejee tomato
Provides the main body of the dish and softens while frying to a tender interior.
Flour
Forms a light coating on the cut side that browns in the hot skillet.
Hot cream or rich milk
Adds richness and moisture poured over the fried tomatoes just before serving.

The step that matters

Heating the skillet until very hot before adding the tomato. A very hot pan sears the floured surface quickly, creating browning and a crust that holds together. A cool pan lets the tomato release moisture and steam, so the coating turns soggy and pale rather than golden.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cream):

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cream. 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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