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Molded Tomatoes

Stuffed tomatoes set in aspic and served with lettuce and mayonnaise dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,655 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Molded Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the molds

  1. Select small round tomatoes and stuff them without letting the filling project beyond the opening.

  2. Place individual molds on ice and pour in ⅛ inch of clear aspic or chicken aspic.

  3. Once set, place a tomato, whole side down, in each mold.

  4. Add enough aspic to secure the tomato without floating it.

  5. When that has set, add more aspic to completely cover the tomato.

Unmold and serve

  1. Turn each molded tomato onto the serving plate and arrange a wreath of shredded lettuce around it.

  2. Serve with mayonnaise dressing on the side.

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 + lettucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,655 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + chickentop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Chicken + lettucetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,421 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Small round tomatoes
Serve as the main filled element, giving fresh flavor and a juicy center inside the set aspic.
Clear aspic or chicken aspic
Gelatin-based liquid that sets firm, holding the tomato in shape and encasing it.
Shredded lettuce
Provides crisp texture and a fresh green base around the molded tomato.

The step that matters

Add enough aspic to secure the tomato without floating it. Aspic must be set before each layer is added. If it is still liquid, the tomato floats or shifts, and if the layer sets too firm, the tomato may not bond to it, so the layers should be added in stages once each has gelled.

Swap the lettuce

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, chicken. 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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