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Tomato Jelly

A gelatinized tomato sauce with horseradish and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 515 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Tomato Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomato base

  1. Combine the tomatoes, cinnamon, onion, bay leaf, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a pot.

  2. Cook until the tomatoes are soft.

  3. Strain the mixture.

Set the jelly

  1. Dissolve the gelatine in the cold water.

  2. Pour the hot tomato mixture over the gelatine.

  3. Stir until combined.

  4. Pour the mixture into molds.

  5. Let it cool until set.

Make the horseradish cream

  1. Mix the grated horseradish, whipped cream, vinegar, salt, and cayenne in a bowl.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Cinnamon + horseradishtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together515 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Onion + horseradishtop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Cinnamon + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the strained tomato liquid into a firm, sliceable jelly.
Tomatoes
Provide the main flavor and body of the jelly once strained.
Whipped cream
Adds softness and richness to the horseradish cream.
Horseradish
Adds sharp, pungent heat that contrasts with the mild jelly.

The step that matters

Pour the hot tomato mixture over the gelatine. Gelatine must dissolve fully in the liquid to set evenly. Pouring hot mixture over it helps it dissolve, while lumps left undissolved create weak or uneven spots in the set jelly.

Flavor stand-ins for the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, onion, vinegar, pepper, horseradish, cream):

  1. Garlicbetter flavor fit
  2. Tarragonbetter flavor fit
  3. Celerybetter flavor fit
  4. Cinnamonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, vinegar, pepper, horseradish, cream. 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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