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Stuffed Tomatoes, Gourmet Style

Stuffed tomatoes filled with a mushroom and breadcrumb mixture, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes, Gourmet Style

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the stuffing

  1. Cut off the tops of the tomatoes and scoop out the insides.

  2. Rub the pulp through a fine sieve.

  3. In a pan, combine the pulp, butter, bread crumbs, mushrooms, parsley or chives, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

  4. Stir the mixture over heat until warmed through.

  5. Bind the mixture with the egg yolks and a little cream.

Stuff and bake

  1. Fill the tomatoes with the stuffing.

  2. Place the stuffed tomatoes in a well-buttered sauté pan.

  3. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.

  4. If not browned enough, hold a salamander or a red-hot shovel over them.

  5. Serve quickly with a piquant sauce.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

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

  4. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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
Hold the stuffing as their hollowed shells and provide the juicy, acidic pulp of the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the stuffing and helps the tops brown in the oven.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture from the pulp so the stuffing holds its shape, and add a crisp topping.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy flavor and a soft, moist texture to the stuffing.
Egg yolks
Bind the stuffing together and set gently when heated, giving it a creamy body.

The step that matters

Bind the stuffing gently. Egg yolks thicken when heated, so they should be stirred in off the heat or over very gentle heat. Overheating can curdle them, leaving the stuffing grainy and loose rather than smooth and set.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, bread, mushroom, parsley, pepper, egg, cream):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, mushroom, parsley, pepper, egg, 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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