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Stuffed Tomatoes

Tomatoes filled with a breadcrumb, ham, anchovy, and egg mixture, baked and served with fried bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes

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. Cut the tops off the tomatoes and scoop out the insides with a teaspoon.

  2. Combine the bread crumbs, parsley, ham, anchovy essence, and egg in a bowl. Season to taste and mix the filling well.

  3. Fill the cavities of the tomatoes with the mixture and replace the tops.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the tomatoes in a baking dish with a little hot fat and bake for 15 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

  2. Prepare 12 small rounds of fried bread.

  3. Place a tomato on each fried bread round.

  4. Garnish with parsley.

  5. Serve hot.

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

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

  3. Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Hold the filling and soften as they bake, providing the dish's main body and moisture.
Bread crumbs
Bind the filling and absorb juices, giving it a soft, cohesive texture.
Egg
Binds the filling so it holds its shape when baked.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour to the filling.
Anchovy essence
Adds a concentrated savoury depth to the filling.

The step that matters

Filling the tomatoes and baking. Overfilling or leaving the tops loose can cause the filling to spill or dry unevenly. Baking the tomatoes in a little hot fat helps the skins soften and the filling set while the tomato stays intact.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, parsley, ham, pepper, anchovy, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, parsley, ham, pepper, anchovy, egg. 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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