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Tomato Pie

A savory pie made with tomatoes, pork chops, mashed potatoes, butter, milk, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,798 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Skin and slice the tomatoes.

  2. Place a layer of tomatoes at the bottom of a pie dish.

  3. Add the chops and season with pepper and salt.

  4. Cover with the remaining tomatoes.

Make the topping

  1. Mash the potatoes until very smooth.

  2. Warm the butter and milk, then pour over the potatoes and mix into a paste.

  3. Spread the potato paste over the dish.

Bake

  1. Brush the top with a little milk.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

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 + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form a juicy layer that moistens the meat as it cooks.
Chops
Provide the main protein, which firms and browns as it bakes.
Potatoes
Form a smooth paste that makes a soft, sealing crust over the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the potato topping.
Milk
Enriches the potato paste and helps the top brown when brushed on.

The step that matters

Spreading the potato paste over the dish. Mashed potato must be very smooth and fully spread so it seals the filling and bakes into an even crust. Lumps or gaps let juices escape and can leave parts of the top dry or uneven.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Tomatothe original
  4. Chivefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, potato, pepper, milk. 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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