Why it works: Tomato and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,918 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Tomato Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Dissolve enough gelatin to solidify 1 quart and mix it with the tomatoes.
Mold the mixture in cups and chill until set.
Unmold and serve
To remove the jelly, briefly dip the cups in hot water.
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.
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Tomato + gelatintop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
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Gelatin + buttertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together311 recipes
Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main flavor and liquid base that the jelly is built from.
- Gelatin
- Sets the tomato liquid into a firm jelly as it cools.
The step that matters
Dip the cups briefly in hot water. Gelatin holds the jelly to the cup walls, so a quick dip loosens the outer edge without melting the set jelly. Dipping too long can soften the surface and cause it to lose its shape.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gelatin, butter):
- Potatofits better
- Onionfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, butter. 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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