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Shrimps in Tomato Cases

Shrimps stuffed in tomato halves with buttered breadcrumb topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,655 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Shrimps in Tomato Cases

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the pulp, and invert them on a sieve to drain.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and cook the onion slices slowly until slightly browned, then remove the onion.

  2. Add the tomato pulp to the saucepan and cook for 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in the bread crumbs and enough cream to make a soft paste.

  4. Blend in the shrimps and season with salt and paprika.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the tomato halves with the shrimp mixture, cover with buttered crumbs, and bake at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

  2. Serve in lettuce leaves or on toasted or fried rounds of bread.

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. Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,655 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 recipes

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

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

Shrimps
Provide the main filling, becoming tender and firm once heated through.
Tomatoes
Form the edible shells and add moisture and acidity to the filling.
Soft bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and bind the filling into a spreadable paste.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness so the crumbs form a soft, smooth paste.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor, and helps the topping crumbs brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Draining the tomato halves. Tomato halves hold a lot of water. If they are not drained well, the filling will thin out and the shells can turn soggy in the oven. Inverting them on a sieve lets the excess liquid run off before filling.

Swap the lettuce

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, tomato, butter, onion, bread, cream. 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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