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Tomato Jelly

A chilled tomato gelatin served on lettuce with mayonnaise dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Tomato Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the jelly

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water until soft.

  2. Cook the tomatoes and seasonings (except salt) for 20 minutes.

  3. Strain the mixture and add salt.

  4. Pour the hot liquid over the softened gelatin and stir until dissolved.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into custard cups that have been wet with cold water.

  2. Serve very cold on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise dressing.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  3. Clove + tomatotop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Granulated gelatin
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly as it cools.
Tomatoes
Provide the main flavour and liquid base of the jelly.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes and rounds out the flavour.

The step that matters

Dissolving the gelatin in hot liquid. Gelatin must be fully dissolved in the hot strained liquid, not left lumpy or cooled. Undissolved gelatin will not set evenly, leaving a weak or grainy jelly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, sugar, clove, tomato. 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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