Why it works: Tomato and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,655 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Jelly Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Season the hot stewed and strained tomato with salt.
Soak the gelatin in cold water.
Add the soaked gelatin to the tomato and mix well.
Turn the mixture into an individual mold and chill until set.
Serve
Once set, unmold the jelly and arrange it on lettuce leaves.
Garnish with Mayonnaise Dressing.
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.
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Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,655 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Gelatin + lettucetop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together128 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Tomato + gelatintop 30% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together53 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatin
- Sets the tomato liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly when chilled.
- Stewed and strained tomato
- Provides the main body, flavor and acidity of the jelly.
The step that matters
Soak the gelatin in cold water before adding it to the hot tomato. Gelatin must hydrate fully in cold water so it dissolves evenly into the hot tomato. Added dry or in clumps, it leaves gritty spots and uneven setting.
Flavor stand-ins for the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, gelatin):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Cucumberabout as good a flavor fit
- Lettucethe original
- Carrotabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, gelatin. 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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