Name: Stuffed Green Peppers
Ingredients: 3 or 4 green peppers; 1 cup chopped ham or any cold meat; ½ cup chopped celery; 1 cup chopped tomatoes; 1 cup cracker crumbs; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons butter; ¼ cup bread crumbs

Why it works: Celery and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stuffed Green Peppers

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the peppers

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Carefully scoop out the insides of the green peppers and cut them in half. Remove all seeds and the white center from the peppers.

Fill and bake

In a bowl, mix the chopped ham, celery, tomatoes, and enough cracker crumbs to thicken the mixture.
Pack the mixture into the prepared peppers.
Sprinkle the tops with bread crumbs, pepper, salt, and dot with butter.
Place the stuffed peppers in a baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes until heated through.

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.

Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Cracker crumbs: Absorb moisture and thicken the filling so it holds its shape.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, helping the bread crumb topping brown as it bakes.
Bread crumbs: Form a topping that becomes golden and crisp in the oven.
Tomatoes: Add moisture and acidity that flavour the filling as it heats.

Swap the celery

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

Parsleyfits about as well
Thymefits about as well
Celerythe original
Marjoramfits about as well

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