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Tomatoes, Stuffed

Tomatoes stuffed with a mixture of ham, bread crumbs, cheese, mushrooms, parsley, onion, and butter, then baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,199 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells apple, fatty. 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 bread crumbs.

  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 bread crumbs on top.

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

  3. Serve on the rounds of fried or toasted 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. Parmesan cheese + mushroomtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

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

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

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

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

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

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

  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
Hold the filling and soften as they bake, giving moisture and a mild acidity.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add body to the filling, then brown on top for a crisp finish.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the filling and helps the topping brown.
Brown sauce
Moistens the mixture and adds savoury depth and colour.
Lean cooked ham
Adds a salty, savoury meaty flavour to the filling.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury, salty flavour and helps the topping brown.

The step that matters

Moistening the filling with brown sauce. Add the brown sauce gradually. Too much makes the filling wet, so it can weep into the tomato and make the crumb topping soggy instead of browned.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, bread, ham, parmesan 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, parmesan 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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