Skip to main content
Main

Asparagus Salad in Tomato Jelly

A chilled asparagus salad set in tomato jelly with optional lettuce, tomato cubes, and mayonnaise.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Asparagus Salad in Tomato Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomato jelly

  1. Simmer the tomatoes with the mace, parsley, onion, and peppercorns for 15 minutes.

  2. Strain the mixture and add salt, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar to taste.

  3. While hot, stir in the gelatine dissolved in cold water for 30 minutes.

  4. Strain again and let cool.

Assemble the mold

  1. Dip each stalk of asparagus in the gelatine and press against the side of a charlotte mold packed in chopped ice, with tips toward the bottom.

  2. Decorate the bottom of the mold with hardboiled egg slices or lettuce leaves and strips of pimento.

  3. Fill the mold with alternate layers of asparagus and jelly.

  4. Set in a cold place to harden.

Serve

  1. When turned out, decorate with crisp lettuce, tomato cubes, jelly, and stars of mayonnaise.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  3. Parsley + asparagustop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together566 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + asparagustop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together313 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 flavour of the jelly once simmered and strained.
Gelatine
Sets the strained tomato liquid into a firm jelly that holds the asparagus in place.
Asparagus
Forms the main vegetable layers, bound to the mold by a coat of gelatine.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour of the tomato jelly.

The step that matters

Dissolving and cooling the gelatine. Gelatine must be fully dissolved into the hot liquid, then the jelly cooled until just syrupy. If it is too hot, it will not set well, and if it is too cold, it can set lumpy or unevenly. Gentle, even handling keeps the jelly clear and firm.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, parsley, onion, pepper, sauce, vinegar, asparagus):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, parsley, onion, pepper, sauce, vinegar, asparagus. 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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesAsparagus SoupAsparagus Soup179 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesAsparagus SaladAsparagus Salad77 recipes