Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Stuffed Peppers
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.
Prepare the peppers
Cut off the stems of the peppers and remove the seeds.
Soak the peppers in water overnight.
Make the filling
In a skillet, melt the butter.
Fry the chopped onion until soft.
Add the tomato soup and bread crumbs to the skillet.
Cook until the mixture thickens.
Stuff, bake and serve
Stuff the peppers with the filling.
Place the stuffed peppers in a baking dish.
Bake the stuffed peppers at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Heat the cream in a double boiler.
Whisk in the flour until smooth.
Pour the sauce over the stuffed peppers.
Top with a beaten egg.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bell peppers
- Form the edible shell that holds the filling during baking.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and give the filling body so it holds its shape.
- Tomato soup
- Provides the moist, savory base of the filling and the tomato flavor.
- Cream
- Adds richness and body to the sauce poured over the peppers.
- Flour
- Thickens the cream into a smooth sauce.
- Egg
- Sets on top when baked, giving the topping a firmer, golden layer.
The step that matters
Whisk in the flour until smooth. Flour must be fully dispersed in the hot cream before or as it thickens; if added in lumps it cannot be whisked out, leaving a grainy sauce. Keeping the cream below a hard boil also prevents scorching and curdling.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, onion, bread, cream, flour, egg):
- Leekfits better
- Chivefits better
- Potatofits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, onion, bread, cream, flour, egg. 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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