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Tomato Jelly

A gelatinous tomato mixture with turkey or chicken, celery, pecans, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,377 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomato Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water.

Cook and strain

  1. Cook the tomatoes with the onion, cloves, bay leaf, and vinegar for 30 minutes.

  2. Stir in the gelatin and remove from heat immediately.

  3. Strain the mixture.

Mix and set

  1. Add chopped turkey or chicken and celery to the mixture.

  2. Fold in the pecans.

  3. Mold the mixture in individual molds.

Serve

  1. Serve on a leaf of lettuce with a spoonful of mayonnaise.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,377 recipes

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

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the strained mixture into a firm, sliceable jelly.
Tomatoes
Form the liquid base and provide the main flavour of the jelly.
Vinegar
Adds sharpness that balances the sweetness of the tomatoes.
Pecans
Add crunch and contrast to the soft jelly.
Turkey or chicken
Adds savoury body and a chewy, meaty texture.

The step that matters

Stir in the gelatin and remove from heat immediately. Gelatin sets by forming a network as it cools. Prolonged boiling weakens its gelling power, so the jelly may fail to set firmly if the gelatin is overheated.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

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

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  3. Mustardbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, clove, vinegar, pepper, gelatin, turkey, celery. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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