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Stuffed Tomatoes

A baked dish of tomatoes filled with a forcemeat of fowl, ham, herbs, and anchovy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the forcemeat

  1. Make a forcemeat by pounding the fowl or veal, ham, parsley, mixed herbs, salt, pepper, shallot, egg yolk, and anchovy into a paste.

  2. Add the butter and mix until creamy.

Fill and bake

  1. Wipe each tomato, cut off the stem, and scoop out the seeds.

  2. Fill the tomatoes with the forcemeat.

  3. Bake on a baking sheet at 400°F (200°C) for 15 to 18 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve on a hot dish with cut lemons and cayenne on the side.

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 + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Parsley + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,702 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Veal + anchovytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together456 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Fowl or veal
Provides the main meaty body of the forcemeat filling.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the forcemeat rich, smooth and creamy.
Egg yolk
Binds the forcemeat so it holds together as a paste.
Ham
Adds salty, savoury flavour to the forcemeat.
Anchovy
Adds a deep savoury note that rounds out the filling.

The step that matters

Baking the filled tomatoes. Tomatoes release water as they heat, and the forcemeat needs enough heat to set. Baking too long can dry the filling and collapse the tomatoes, so watch the 15 to 18 minute window closely.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, parsley, shallot, egg, anchovy, butter):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, parsley, shallot, egg, anchovy, butter. 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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