Why it works: Cucumber and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,405 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Stuffed Cucumbers
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Halve the cucumbers and remove the seeds.
Boil the rice for 30 minutes, then drain.
Mix the drained rice with an equal amount of chopped meat.
Peel the tomatoes, halve them, remove the seeds, and cut into small pieces.
Combine the tomatoes with the rice and meat mixture, then add salt and pepper.
Stuff and bake
Stuff the mixture into the cucumber halves and bind them with twine.
Place the stuffed cucumbers in a baking pan and add water.
Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 1 hour, basting 4 or 5 times.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,405 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cucumber + ricetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together734 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,065 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cucumbers
- Act as the edible shell that holds the filling during baking.
- Rice
- Absorbs liquid and cooks into a tender, bulky filling.
- Chopped meat
- Adds protein, savoury flavour and body to the filling.
- Tomatoes
- Add moisture and acidity that season the filling as it cooks.
The step that matters
Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 1 hour, basting 4 or 5 times. Low, steady heat cooks the meat and rice through while the cucumber softens gently. Basting keeps the surfaces moist so the filling does not dry out over the long bake.
Swap the cucumber
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, meat, tomato, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Okrafits better
- Cucumberthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, meat, tomato, 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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