Why it works: Lettuce and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
If using fresh tomatoes, skin and stew them.
Pass the tomatoes through a sieve to remove seeds.
Season the tomato puree with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Set the jelly
Melt the gelatin in hot water and add it to the tomato mixture.
For a better appearance, place sliced cucumber in the bottom of the mold before pouring in the mixture.
Pour the mixture into a mold and place it on ice.
Once cold, turn out the jelly onto a serving plate.
Garnish and serve
Garnish with lettuce leaves and pour mayonnaise dressing over the top.
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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Lettuce + cucumbertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,409 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + cucumbertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,405 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,655 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body, flavour and liquid base of the jelly.
- Gelatin
- Sets the tomato liquid so it holds its shape when turned out and chilled.
The step that matters
Melt the gelatin fully before adding it to the tomato mixture. Gelatin must be completely dissolved in hot water to set evenly. Undissolved granules or a mixture that is too hot can leave grainy patches or weaken the set, so the jelly may not hold its shape.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gelatin, pepper, lettuce, cucumber):
- Beetrootfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, pepper, lettuce, cucumber. 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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