Name: Baked Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients: large tomatoes; ⅓ cup fine, dry breadcrumbs; 2 tablespoons melted butter; a few drops of onion juice; salt to taste; pepper to taste; tiny bit of butter for topping

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 Stuffed 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cut a piece from the top of each tomato and scoop out the center.

Stuff and bake

Mix the extracted pulp with breadcrumbs, melted butter, onion juice, salt, and pepper.
Stuff the hollowed tomatoes with the mixture and replace the tops.
Place the tomatoes in a baking dish and pour the reserved juice around them.
Add a small amount of butter on top of each tomato.
Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
Serve in the baking dish.

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).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + peppertop 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

Large tomatoes: Hollowed shells that hold the stuffing and soften into tender, juicy cups as they bake.
Fine, dry breadcrumbs: Absorb the tomato pulp and butter, giving the stuffing body so it holds its shape.
Melted butter: Adds fat and richness to the stuffing and helps it brown lightly on top.