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Tomatoes, Stuffed

Stuffed tomatoes filled with a savory mixture of ham, breadcrumbs, cheese, mushrooms, onion, parsley, and butter, baked and served on crostini.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Tomatoes, Stuffed

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 filling

  1. Remove the stalks from the tomatoes and scoop out a little of the pulp.

  2. In a small saucepan, mix together all ingredients except the brown sauce and browned breadcrumbs.

  3. Gradually add enough brown sauce to moisten the mixture.

  4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the tomatoes with the mixture and sprinkle browned breadcrumbs on top.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 15 minutes.

  3. Serve on the crostini.

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

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

  2. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  5. Bread + hamtop 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

Tomatoes
Hollowed shells that hold the filling and soften as they bake.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the filling brown lightly in the oven.
Breadcrumbs
Soak up moisture and give the filling body, with browned crumbs adding a crisp top.
Cheese
Adds savoury flavour and helps the topping brown.
Brown sauce
Moistens the mixture so it holds together inside the tomatoes.

The step that matters

Fill and bake the tomatoes without overbaking. Tomatoes are mostly water, so over-baking can collapse their shells and make the filling watery. A moderate oven and a short bake keep them intact while the topping browns.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, bread, ham, cheese, mushroom, onion, 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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