Skip to main content
Salad

Tomato Jelly Salad

A salad of tomato gelatin served on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Tomato Jelly Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. Dissolve the gelatin in the seasoned strained tomatoes.

  2. Strain the mixture and mold it in small cups or wine glasses.

Serve

  1. Turn out the jelly onto lettuce leaves.

  2. Serve with a spoonful of mayonnaise 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. Gelatin + lettucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together128 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Gelatin + tomatotop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the tomato liquid into a firm jelly that holds its shape when turned out.
Seasoned strained tomatoes
Provides the liquid base and the main tomato flavor of the jelly.
Mayonnaise
Adds richness and fat that contrasts with the tart, savory tomato jelly.

The step that matters

Dissolve the gelatin in the tomatoes. Gelatin must fully dissolve before the mixture sets; undissolved granules leave gritty or weak spots. Gentle, thorough stirring helps it disperse evenly so the jelly sets firm and uniform.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Beetrootfits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, lettuce. 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 SaladTomato Salad179 recipesChicken SaladChicken Salad623 recipesSalad DressingSalad Dressing491 recipesCold SlawCold Slaw160 recipes