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Broiled Tomatoes

A simple dish of sliced tomatoes broiled with olive oil, salt, pepper, and optional fresh herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Broiled Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

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

  1. Preheat the broiler.

  2. Slice the tomatoes in half and place them cut side up on a baking sheet.

  3. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil for 5-7 minutes until the tops are slightly charred.

  2. Garnish with fresh herbs if desired.

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. Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

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

  3. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Soften and turn sweeter and juicier under the heat, with charred tops adding savory flavor.
Olive oil
Carries heat across the cut surfaces and promotes browning and a rich mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Broil until the tops are slightly charred. Broiler heat is intense and fast, so tomatoes can go from browned to burnt quickly. Watch closely, since the goal is light charring while the flesh stays tender and intact.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Tomatothe original
  3. Eggplantfits less well
  4. Spinachfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, pepper. 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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