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Tomatoes, Stuffed, with Mushrooms

Tomatoes are filled with a mushroom and breadcrumb mixture, baked, and served on croutons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomatoes, Stuffed, with Mushrooms

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 tomatoes

  1. Remove the stalks from the tomatoes and scoop out a little of the pulp.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.

  2. Add all the ingredients except the browned breadcrumbs.

  3. Stir over the heat until thoroughly mixed.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the tomatoes with the mixture.

  2. Sprinkle with browned breadcrumbs.

  3. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

  4. Serve on the croutons.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the hollow shell that holds the filling and softens into a juicy base when baked.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and moisture to the filling.
Breadcrumbs
Soak up juices and bind the filling so it holds its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the filling cook and mix smoothly.
Croutons of fried or toasted bread
Provide a crisp base that the tomatoes are served on.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, mushroom, parsley, bread, butter, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, mushroom, parsley, bread, butter, 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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