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Tomato Aspic

A gelatinous tomato dish made with tomatoes, onion, celery, nuts, gelatin, water, salt, vinegar, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomato Aspic

Ingredients

Directions

Make the aspic

  1. In a pot, combine the tomatoes, 1 pint of water, onion, and mixed spices. Bring to a boil, then strain the mixture.

  2. Dissolve the gelatin in ½ pint of water and stir it into the strained tomato mixture.

  3. Add salt, a little vinegar, and sugar to taste.

  4. When the mixture begins to thicken, stir in the chopped celery and nuts.

Set and serve

  1. Mold the mixture, then turn it out onto a lettuce leaf and serve with 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. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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 aspic once chilled.
Tomatoes
Provide the main flavor and liquid base of the aspic.
Celery
Adds a crisp, fresh texture against the soft set aspic.
Nuts
Add crunch and a contrasting texture throughout the set mold.
Onion
Adds savory aroma and depth to the tomato base.

The step that matters

When the mixture begins to thicken, stir in the chopped celery and nuts.. Gelatin must be partly set before adding solids, or the celery and nuts sink to the bottom instead of staying suspended. Adding them at the right moment keeps them evenly distributed through the mold.

Swap the nuts

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

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Sesamefits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, celery, gelatin, sugar, vinegar. 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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