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Salad

Cream Cheese Salad

Molded cream cheese mixture served on sliced tomatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cream Cheese Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cheese cream

  1. Whip the thick cream until fluffy.

  2. Whip in the liquid aspic jelly and grated Parmesan cheese.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

  4. Wet small molds in cold water and fill with the cheese mixture.

  5. Set aside to harden.

Prepare the tomatoes and serve

  1. Marinate the sliced tomatoes in French dressing and chill.

  2. Serve a molded cheese cream on a slice of tomato.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Parmesan cheese + tomatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,490 recipes

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

  3. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Cream + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,566 recipes

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

  5. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Thick cream
Whipped to a fluffy base that gives the salad its light, creamy texture.
Liquid aspic jelly
Gelatin-based setting agent that firms the whipped cream into a molded shape.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and body to the cheese cream.
Tomatoes
Provide fresh acidity and moisture as the base under the molded cream.

The step that matters

Set aside to harden. The cheese cream only holds its shape if the aspic jelly fully sets. Whipping the jelly in while it is still liquid and giving the molds time to chill and firm keeps the molds from slumping when unmolded.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, parmesan cheese, pepper):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, parmesan cheese, pepper. 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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