Skip to main content
Main

Tomatoes Stuffed with Shrimps

Tomatoes stuffed with shrimp, breadcrumbs, egg, and butter, served on lettuce or cress.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomatoes Stuffed with Shrimps

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut a round piece from the stalk end of each tomato and scoop out the seeds.

  2. In a pan, combine the seeds with butter, salt, and pepper, then cook the mixture for 5 minutes.

  3. Strain the mixture and stir it into the breadcrumbs.

  4. Add the chopped shrimps and finely chopped hard boiled egg, then mix well.

Fill and serve

  1. Fill the tomatoes with the mixture and replace the tops.

  2. If preferred, cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 5 minutes.

  3. Serve hot on a bed of lettuce or cress.

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

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

  2. Butter + shrimptop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,931 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Tomato + shrimptop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,689 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 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

Tomatoes
Hollow shells that hold the filling and give a juicy, acidic contrast.
Butter
Adds richness and carries the flavour of the cooked tomato seeds.
Shrimps
Provide the main seafood flavour and tender texture in the filling.
Breadcrumbs
Soak up liquid and bind the filling so it holds its shape.
Hard boiled egg
Adds body and a soft, firm texture that helps bind the filling.

The step that matters

Cooking the seed mixture. Cooking the seeds in butter for the full 5 minutes concentrates their flavour and drives off excess moisture. Straining afterward keeps watery liquid out, so the breadcrumb filling stays firm rather than soggy.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, shrimp, egg, 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipesCream Tomato SoupCream Tomato Soup28 recipes