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Italian Stuffed Tomatoes

A baked dish of hollowed tomatoes filled with a seasoned breadcrumb and ham mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Italian Stuffed 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, cut them in half, and empty them.

  3. Place the tomatoes in a baking dish with a small amount of olive oil.

Stuff and bake

  1. In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs, ham, parsley, basil, marjoram, thyme, garlic, pepper, and salt.

  2. Stuff the mixture into the tomatoes, covering them almost completely.

  3. Drizzle salad oil over the stuffed tomatoes.

  4. Bake for a few minutes until heated through and slightly golden.

  5. Serve warm.

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Basil + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the moist, acidic base that holds the stuffing and softens as it bakes.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind with the herbs and ham to form a cohesive, tender stuffing.
Ham
Adds salty, savoury meatiness that flavours the stuffing.
Olive oil
Adds fat and flavour to the baking dish and helps the tomatoes brown gently.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, ham, parsley, basil, marjoram, thyme, clove):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, ham, parsley, basil, marjoram, thyme, clove. 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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