Name: Stuffed Tomatoes with Rice
Ingredients: 6 even-size ripe tomatoes; 2 oz boiled rice; 3 teaspoons grated cheese; a few breadcrumbs; 1 teaspoon MARMITE; butter (for cooking); seasoning to taste; parsley (for garnish)

Why it works: Tomato and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes with Rice

Oven, in the book's wordsA fairly hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the tomatoes

Cut a small slice off the top of each tomato and scoop out the pulp.

Make the filling

In a saucepan, heat the butter and add the tomato pulp.
Once hot, mix in the rice, cheese, MARMITE, and seasoning.

Bake and serve

Fill each tomato with the mixture and sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.
Drizzle a little oiled butter over each tomato.
Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.
Garnish with parsley and 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.

Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,398 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Rice + parsleytop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,762 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Tomato + cheesetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,896 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Hollowed shells that hold the filling and soften as they bake.
Boiled rice: Adds bulk and body to the filling, soaking up juices as it bakes.
Grated cheese: Melts into the filling and browns slightly, adding richness and savoury flavour.
Marmite: Adds concentrated savoury, salty depth to the filling.
Breadcrumbs: Form a crisp, golden topping when baked.