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Baked Tomatoes

A baked tomato dish seasoned with butter, salt, pepper, brown sugar, topped with whipped cream and melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Peel the tomatoes and hollow out a small place in the center of each.

  3. Place the tomatoes in a pudding dish.

Bake

  1. Season each tomato with salt, pepper, and butter, then sprinkle with brown sugar.

  2. Cover the dish with a lid and bake for 30 minutes.

  3. Remove the lid and bake for an additional 10 minutes to brown.

Serve

  1. Just before serving, pour the whipped cream mixed with melted butter over the top.

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 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
Provide the main body; their soft flesh softens and releases juice as they bake.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the tomatoes brown and carry seasoning.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and caramelizes on the surface, deepening color and flavor.
Whipped cream
Adds a cool, creamy, rich topping that contrasts with the warm baked tomatoes.

The step that matters

Removing the lid for the last 10 minutes. The covered bake traps steam and keeps the tomatoes moist and pale. Uncovering lets surface moisture evaporate, so the sugar and butter can brown.

Swap the tomato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, sugar, cream. 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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