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Stuffed Peppers

A dish of bell peppers filled with a mixture of ground meats, tomatoes, and breadcrumbs or rice, baked until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cut off the stem end of the peppers and remove the seeds.

  3. Parboil the peppers in water for 10 minutes.

Make the filling

  1. In a large skillet, melt the butter and fry the chopped onion until soft.

  2. Add the ground beef, pork, and mutton, stirring until browned.

  3. Mix in the tomatoes, celery seed, and salt to taste.

  4. Stir in the bread crumbs or cooked rice and add enough hot water to keep the mixture moist.

Stuff and bake

  1. Stuff the prepared peppers with the meat mixture.

  2. Place the stuffed peppers in a baking dish with ½ inch of water.

  3. Bake for 30 minutes until the peppers are tender.

  4. Remove the tops of the peppers for the last few minutes to allow the meat to brown.

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 + porktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  2. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bell peppers
Hollowed shells that soften during baking and hold the filling.
Ground beef
Provides the main meaty body and browns to add savory flavor.
Ground pork
Adds fat and richness, keeping the filling tender and juicy.
Ground mutton
Adds a stronger, richer meat flavor and additional fat to the filling.
Bread crumbs or cooked rice
Absorbs liquid and juices, giving the filling a softer, moister texture.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that balance the rich meats.

The step that matters

Parboil the peppers before stuffing. Parboiling softens the pepper walls so they become tender during the shorter bake and can hold the filling without tearing. Skipping it can leave the peppers tough while the meat overcooks.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Celerythe original
  4. Parsleyfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, onion, beef, pork, mutton, tomato. 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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