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Cucumber Jelly Salad

A chilled cucumber and onion jelly served with mayonnaise.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,050 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cucumber Jelly Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the jelly

  1. In a saucepan, combine cucumbers, onion, salt, white pepper, vinegar, and water.

  2. Stew slowly until very tender.

  3. Soak gelatine in cold water, then add to the saucepan and stir until dissolved.

  4. Strain the mixture through wet cheesecloth.

Mould and serve

  1. When the mixture is cold and beginning to thicken, line small molds with cucumber slices.

  2. Pour the thickening jelly into the molds and set on ice until firm.

  3. Serve on leaves with 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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. White pepper + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cucumber + white peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together317 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the cucumber liquid into a firm jelly that holds its shape when unmoulded.
Cucumbers
Provide the main body, flavor, and moisture that the jelly is built around.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the cucumber flavor and balances the richness of the mayonnaise.
Onion
Adds a mild savory aroma that flavors the stewed cucumber base.

The step that matters

Straining through wet cheesecloth. Gelatine needs a clear, smooth liquid to set evenly; cooking the cucumber solids can leave cloudiness and bits that weaken the texture. Straining while hot and keeping the cloth wet helps remove them cleanly.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, onion, vinegar):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, onion, vinegar. 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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