Name: Baked Tomatoes
Ingredients: 1 small loaf of bread, crumbs; 3 ounces butter; 2 small onions, chopped finely; coarse sea salt, to taste; pepper, to taste; 8-10 large tomatoes

Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Baked Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the filling

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs, butter, chopped onions, salt, and pepper until well combined.

Fill and bake

Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds, keeping the skins on.
Fill each tomato half with the dressing and place them back together.
Sprinkle the filled tomatoes with salt and pepper, and place a small piece of butter on top of each.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes until heated through.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 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: Form the main body of the dish and soften into a juicy base as they bake.
Bread crumbs: Absorb the tomato juices and give the filling body and a soft texture.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture to the filling and melts over the tomatoes as they bake.
Onions: Add aroma and savour to the filling, mellowing as they cook in the oven.