Name: Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients: 4 medium tomatoes; 1 cup cooked rice; 1/2 cup grated cheese; 1/4 cup chopped onion; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon pepper; 1 tablespoon butter

Why it works: Tomato and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cut the tops off the tomatoes and scoop out the insides.

Stuff and bake

In a bowl, mix the rice, cheese, onion, salt, and pepper.
Stuff the mixture into the hollowed tomatoes.
Place the stuffed tomatoes in a baking dish and dot with butter.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tomatoes are tender.

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.

Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Hollow shells that hold the filling and soften as they bake.
Cooked rice: Bulks out the filling so it holds its shape inside the tomato.
Grated cheese: Melts into the filling, adding richness and savoury flavour.
Butter: Adds fat and helps the tops brown lightly in the oven.

Swap the onion

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

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Asparagusfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, rice, cheese, pepper, 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.