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Baked Tomatoes

Baked tomatoes with salt pork or ham, breadcrumbs, pepper, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Baked Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Peel and slice the tomatoes.

  2. Finely mince the pork.

Layer

  1. In a buttered pie dish, layer the tomatoes, seasoning with sugar and pepper.

  2. Strew breadcrumbs over the tomatoes and scatter some pork on top.

  3. Repeat the layering, finishing with breadcrumbs on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover the dish closely and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes, or until the juice bubbles up at the sides.

  2. Remove the cover and brown the top before serving.

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. Tomato + porktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,843 recipes

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

  3. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,667 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Pepper and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the juicy base that bakes down into the sauce.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb tomato juice and brown on top for a crisp finish.
Salt pork or ham
Adds savory, salty flavor that contrasts with the sweet tomatoes.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes and promotes browning.

The step that matters

Cover the dish closely while baking. The cover traps steam so the tomatoes soften and release their juice, which bubbles up at the sides. Removing it afterward lets the surface dry and brown.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, sugar. 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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