Why it works: Capers and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 372 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Stuffed Tomatoes with Aspic Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Wipe the tomatoes and carefully scoop out the centers using a vegetable cutter or a teaspoon.
Chop the capers, egg yolk, and anchovy fillets, then mix with ½ cup mayonnaise and ½ cup aspic.
Stir the mixture over ice until nearly set, then fill the cavities of the tomatoes.
Cover each tomato with a sprig of parsley and place them on ice to set thoroughly.
Coat each tomato several times with half-set aspic or line small molds with aspic and set the tomatoes inside.
Dress and serve
Wash and divide the lettuces into small pieces, season with salt and pepper, and dress with mayonnaise.
Place the dressed lettuce in the center of a dish and arrange the prepared tomatoes around it.
Garnish with sprigs of parsley and blocks of aspic jelly.
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.
-
Capers + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together372 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Capers + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,550 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,483 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,655 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
- Serve as the firm edible shell that holds the filling.
- Aspic
- Sets into a clear jelly that holds the filling and coats the tomatoes.
- Mayonnaise
- Adds fat and creaminess to the filling and the lettuce dressing.
- Anchovy fillets
- Add a salty, savory depth to the filling.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and body to the filling.
- Lettuce
- Provides a crisp, fresh base for the arranged tomatoes.
The step that matters
Stir the filling over ice until nearly set. Gelatin-based aspic sets only when cold, so stirring over ice thickens the filling enough to hold its shape in the tomato. If it sets fully before filling, it will not pack well; if it stays liquid, it will run out of the cavities.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (anchovy, capers, egg, lettuce, pepper, parsley):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Spinachfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against anchovy, capers, egg, lettuce, pepper, parsley. 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 Soup526 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes
Tomato Bisque61 recipes
Cream Tomato Soup28 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.