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Pimento Salad

A gelatin-based salad with pimentos, nuts, celery, and apple.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Pimento Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gelatin base

  1. Dissolve gelatin in cold water.

  2. Add hot water, lemon juice, vinegar, and sugar; mix well.

Assemble and set

  1. Stir in nut meats, celery, apple, and pimentoes.

  2. Pour mixture into a large mold or individual molds.

  3. Refrigerate until set.

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. Lemon + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Celery + appletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  4. Lemon + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable salad when chilled.
Nut meats
Add crunch and texture that contrasts with the soft gelatin.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and a fresh, vegetal bite.
Apple
Adds crunch and mild sweetness, and holds its texture in the set gelatin.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the vinegar and lemon juice.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that brightens the flavor of the salad.

The step that matters

Dissolve gelatin in cold water first. Gelatin must hydrate in cold water before hot liquid is added; if it is poured into hot water directly, it can clump and will not set evenly.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gelatin, lemon, vinegar, sugar, meat, celery):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Cherryfits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, lemon, vinegar, sugar, meat, celery. 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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