Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,923 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the jelly
Soak the agar-agar jelly in cold water for 10 minutes.
Make the tomato juice
In an enamel bowl, combine tomatoes, pepper, salt, sugar, and enough water to cover.
Cook until the tomatoes are soft.
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve to extract the juice.
Set and serve
Dissolve the soaked jelly in the tomato juice and strain it again.
Pour the mixture into a greased square dish and refrigerate until set.
Once cold, cut into rounds using a liqueur glass and use to decorate a cold dish or galantine.
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 + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Agar + peppertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together16 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Agar + sugartop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together32 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Agar + tomatotop 24% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 19,401 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Agar agar jelly
- Sets the tomato juice into a firm jelly once dissolved and chilled.
- Tomatoes
- Provide the flavour base and body of the jelly once cooked and sieved.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity of the tomatoes and rounds out their flavour.
The step that matters
Dissolve the soaked jelly in the tomato juice and strain it again.. Agar must be fully dissolved in hot liquid before setting, or it will leave gritty specks and set unevenly. Straining again removes any undissolved particles and skin, giving a smooth, clear jelly.
“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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