Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,047 recipes mention both. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Make the tomato base
In a granite pan, combine canned tomatoes, bay leaves, celery tips (or celery salt), ordinary salt, onion juice, and cayenne pepper.
Stew gently for 3 hours. If tomatoes are thick, add a little water.
Set and mould
Soak gelatine in cold water for 30 minutes.
Add soaked gelatine and lemon juice to the tomatoes.
Strain the mixture into molds.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned 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
- Canned tomatoes
- Provide the main body, acidity and flavour of the salad.
- Gelatine
- Sets the strained tomato liquid into a firm, sliceable mould.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the tomato flavour.
The step that matters
Soak gelatine in cold water for 30 minutes. Gelatine must fully hydrate before it is added so it dissolves evenly and sets smoothly. Adding it dry or unsoaked can leave lumps or weak, uneven setting.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, celery, pepper, lemon):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Okrabetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, celery, pepper, lemon. 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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