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Stewed Tomatoes

A simple stew of tomatoes, optionally with onion, butter, seasoning, bread crumbs, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Stewed Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Cover the tomatoes with boiling water to loosen the skins.

  2. Drain, peel, and cut the tomatoes into small pieces.

  3. If desired, add a small chopped onion.

Cook and finish

  1. Cook over moderate heat for a long time to improve the flavor.

  2. Just before removing from the stove, add butter and seasoning.

  3. If desired, thicken with bread crumbs and sweeten with sugar.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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
Form the body of the dish and release juices that become the sauce as they cook down.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel when stirred in at the end.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and thicken the stewed tomatoes into a more spoonable consistency.
Sugar
Balances the natural acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Long, moderate-heat cooking. Slow simmering evaporates excess water and concentrates the tomato flavor. Heat that is too high can scorch the bottom of the pan before the sauce has thickened and developed depth.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, butter, pepper, bread, sugar):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, butter, pepper, bread, sugar. 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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