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Baked Tomatoes

Baked tomatoes stuffed with a savory mixture of shallots, ham, mushrooms, herbs, brown sauce, breadcrumbs, and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Baked Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA sharp oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a sharp oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the tomatoes

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

  2. Remove the stems from the tomatoes and cut off the tops.

  3. Scoop out the centers of the tomatoes without breaking them.

Make the filling

  1. In a pan, fry the chopped shallots in butter.

  2. Add minced ham, mushrooms, and herbs to the pan.

  3. Moisten the mixture with brown sauce and incorporate bread crumbs.

  4. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Bake

  1. Fill the tomatoes with the mixture.

  2. Sprinkle bread crumbs and grated cheese on top of each tomato.

  3. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.

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. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 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. Butter + mushroomtop 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 as it bakes.
Butter
Fat that softens the shallots and carries flavor into the filling.
Mushrooms
Add moisture and savory, earthy depth to the filling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the brown sauce and juices, giving the filling body and a lightly browned top.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding richness and a golden crust.
Minced ham
Adds salty, savory meatiness to the filling.

The step that matters

Scoop out the centers without breaking them. The tomato wall is thin and soft, so tearing it lets the filling leak out during baking and leaves the shell unable to hold its shape.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, shallot, ham, mushroom, sauce, bread, pepper):

  1. Chivefits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, shallot, ham, mushroom, sauce, bread, 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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