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Tomato Jelly

A savory gelatin set made from tomatoes, onion, celery, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 456 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Tomato Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine

  1. Soften the gelatine in cold water for 5 minutes.

Make the jelly

  1. Cook the tomatoes, onion, celery, bay leaf, cloves, and cayenne in a saucepan for 10 minutes.

  2. Add the tarragon vinegar and softened gelatine, stirring until dissolved.

  3. Strain the mixture and pour it into a mold.

  4. Set the mold in a cool place or on ice to form.

Serve

  1. Once cold, turn the jelly out of the mold.

  2. Garnish with lettuce leaves.

  3. Pour mayonnaise dressing over it.

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. Celery + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together456 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm jelly that holds its shape when turned out.
Tomatoes
Provide the main liquid, flavour and colour of the jelly.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the tomato base.

The step that matters

Dissolve the gelatine fully before setting. Gelatine only sets when it has completely dissolved into warm liquid. Undissolved granules leave weak spots and an uneven texture, so stir until no grains remain before straining and chilling.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, celery, tarragon, vinegar, clove, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, celery, tarragon, vinegar, clove, pepper. 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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