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Scalloped Left-overs

A baked dish of tomatoes, corn, cheese, onion, green pepper, bread crumbs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,099 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Scalloped Left-overs

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

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

  2. Chop the onion and green pepper into small pieces.

Mix and bake

  1. In a baking dish, combine the tomatoes, corn, cheese, onion, green pepper, bread crumbs, salt, butter, and pepper, then mix all ingredients together.

  2. Add enough water to nearly cover the mixture.

  3. Sprinkle remaining bread crumbs on top.

  4. Bake in the oven until heated through and golden on top.

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 + corntop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

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

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

  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

Tomatoes
Provide the main body and moisture of the dish.
Cheese
Melts into the mixture and browns on top for richness.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and form a crisp, golden topping when baked.
Corn
Adds sweetness and bulk to the mixture.
Butter
Adds fat, richness and helps the topping brown.

The step that matters

Add enough water to nearly cover the mixture. Water turns to steam as the dish heats, keeping the crumbs and vegetables moist while the mixture cooks through. Too little liquid can leave the bread crumbs dry and the dish scorched on top before it is heated through.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, corn, cheese, pepper, bread, 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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