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Tomatoes Stuffed with Hamburgher Steak

Tomatoes stuffed with a seasoned hamburger mixture, baked in bacon-lined steam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomatoes Stuffed with Hamburgher Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Remove the tops and centers from the tomatoes using a sharp knife.

  2. In a bowl, mix the ground beef, browned bread crumbs, chopped onion, salt, pepper, and butter until well combined.

  3. Fill the tomatoes with the beef mixture, adding the centers back in.

  4. Replace the tops on the tomatoes and bind them with a light string.

Steam and serve

  1. Place the tomatoes in a kettle lined with strips of bacon.

  2. Steam the tomatoes for 30 minutes.

  3. Carefully remove the strings and serve, ensuring they are browned 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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Tomato + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 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

Ground beef
Forms the savory filling that holds the stuffed tomatoes together as it cooks.
Browned bread crumbs
Absorb juices from the beef and tomato, keeping the filling moist and binding it.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and moisture to the beef filling.
Onion
Adds aroma and savory sweetness to the beef filling as it cooks.
Tomatoes
Act as the edible shell that softens and holds the filling while steaming.

The step that matters

Steam the tomatoes for 30 minutes. Steaming gently cooks the raw ground beef through while keeping the tomato shells intact. Overcooking can make the tomatoes collapse and release excess liquid.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, beef, bread, pepper, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, beef, bread, pepper, butter. 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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