Skip to main content
Main

Fried Tomatoes

Fried tomatoes served with a cream gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Fried Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Pare and slice the tomatoes thick.

  2. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, then sprinkle flour over each piece.

Fry and make the gravy

  1. Heat lard or butter in a skillet.

  2. Fry the tomatoes on both sides until light brown.

  3. In a separate pan, heat the cream with 1 teaspoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour to thicken.

  4. Pour the gravy over the fried tomatoes and serve.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Firm, ripe tomatoes
Form the main body of the dish, softening slightly while holding their shape when fried.
Flour
Coats the tomato slices so they brown, and thickens the cream into a gravy.
Cream
Forms the base of the gravy, adding richness and a smooth, thickened texture.
Lard or butter
Fat for frying, conducting heat so the tomato surfaces brown.

The step that matters

Fry the tomatoes on both sides until light brown. Frying over steady heat browns the floured surface and sets a crust; too little heat leaves them soggy and pale, while too much burns the flour before the tomato is warmed through.

Swap the tomato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour, butter, 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.

More fried tomatoes recipes

and Onions 3 See all 138 →

You might also like

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