Name: Baked Tomatoes
Ingredients: 4 large tomatoes; coarse sea salt; black pepper; butter

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 ↓

Baked Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

4 large tomatoes
coarse sea salt
black pepper
butter

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Wash and wipe the tomatoes, then cut them in half.
Place them in a baking tin with the skin side down.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Bake and finish

Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until done.
Carefully remove from the oven and place bits of butter on each tomato half.

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.

Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 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).
Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,918 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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 juices that soften and concentrate as they bake.
Butter: Adds richness and a glossy finish, carrying flavour across the warm tomato halves.

The step that matters

Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until done. Tomatoes hold a lot of water, so baking long enough lets the liquid evaporate and the flesh soften and concentrate in flavour. Stopping too early leaves them watery, while overbaking can collapse them entirely.