Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the forcemeat
Make a forcemeat by pounding the fowl, parsley, ham, egg yolk, anchovy, and dissolved butter into a paste.
Fill the tomatoes
Wipe each tomato, cut off the stem, and scoop out the seeds.
Fill the tomatoes with the forcemeat.
Bake and serve
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10-15 minutes.
Serve on a hot dish with cut lemons and cayenne pepper on the side.
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.
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,330 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,697 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold fowl or veal
- Provides the main body of the forcemeat, giving it a firm, meaty texture.
- Cooked ham
- Adds savoury, salty flavour to the forcemeat.
- Hard boiled egg yolk
- Enriches the forcemeat and helps bind it into a smooth paste.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the forcemeat as it is dissolved in.
- Ripe tomatoes
- Serve as the hollow shell that holds the filling and softens during baking.
“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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