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Stuffed Baked Tomatoes

A baked tomato dish filled with a mixture of cabbage, onion, breadcrumbs, and sweet cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stuffed Baked 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 the tomatoes

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cut a thin slice from the blossom end of each tomato and scoop out the pulp without breaking the rind.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, mix the chopped cabbage, onion, bread crumbs, tomato pulp, pepper, salt, sugar, and sweet cream until well combined.

  2. Fill the tomato shells with the mixture and replace the slices on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the tomatoes in a buttered baking dish, cut ends up, and add enough water to prevent burning.

  2. Top each tomato with a small lump of butter.

  3. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until well done.

  4. Add another bit of butter on each tomato before serving.

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. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the hollow shells that hold the filling and soften into a tender, juicy base as they bake.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture from the cabbage, onion and cream so the filling holds together rather than running out.
Sweet cream
Adds richness and moisture to the filling, keeping it soft and creamy as it bakes.
Cabbage
Provides the bulk of the filling and mild body that softens during baking.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the topping, promoting gentle browning on the tomatoes.

The step that matters

Scooping the tomatoes without breaking the rind. The rind is the only container for the filling. A torn shell lets juice and filling leak into the dish and the tomato collapses while baking, so scoop slowly with a small spoon.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, onion, bread, pepper, sugar, cream, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, bread, pepper, sugar, cream, 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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