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A V Italienne

Tomatoes filled with ham, breadcrumbs, herbs, and oil, baked until hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,225 recipes mention both. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the pulp and seeds.

  3. Place the tomatoes in a baking dish and drizzle with salad oil.

Fill and bake

  1. Mix the ham, bread crumbs, shallot, parsley, marjoram, thyme, pepper, and salt.

  2. Fill the tomato halves with the mixture and cover completely.

  3. Drizzle more salad oil over the filled tomatoes.

  4. Bake for 8-10 minutes and serve hot.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,118 recipes

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

  5. Marjoram + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the edible shell that holds the filling and softens as it bakes.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the filling so it holds together rather than running.
Ham
Adds savory, salty flavor and a meaty texture to the filling.
Salad oil
Carries heat across the surfaces and helps the tomatoes and topping brown lightly.

The step that matters

Fill the tomato halves and cover completely. Covering the cut surfaces with filling helps protect the tomato flesh from drying out and keeps the filling from slipping off during baking.

Flavor stand-ins for the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, ham, bread, parsley, marjoram, thyme, pepper):

  1. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Potatobetter flavor fit
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, ham, bread, parsley, marjoram, thyme, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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