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Salad

Tomato Salad

A tomato salad set in gelatine molds, served with a cooked egg and mustard dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Tomato Salad

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Tomato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomato aspic

  1. In a granite pan, combine the canned tomatoes, bay leaves, celery tips (or celery salt), onion juice, and cayenne pepper.

  2. Stew gently for 3 hours.

  3. Soak the gelatine in cold water for 30 minutes.

  4. Add the gelatine and lemon juice to the tomatoes.

  5. If the tomatoes are too thick, add a little water.

  6. Strain into molds.

Make the dressing

  1. For the salad dressing, mix sugar, salt, mustard, milk, and eggs in a double boiler without vinegar.

  2. Heat while stirring constantly until it comes to a boil.

  3. Add vinegar and bring to a boil again.

  4. If too thick when cold, add cream to thin it out.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Canned tomatoes
Provide the main flavor and body of the aspic after long stewing.
Gelatine
Sets the tomato liquid so it holds its shape in the mold.
Eggs
Thicken the dressing as they cook and give it a creamy body.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor of the dressing.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavor that balances the sweetness of the dressing.

The step that matters

Heating the dressing while stirring constantly. Eggs can scramble and curdle if they overheat or sit still, so the dressing must be stirred constantly over a double boiler until it just comes to a boil, which thickens it smoothly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, celery, pepper, lemon, sugar, mustard, milk):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, celery, pepper, lemon, sugar, mustard, milk. 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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