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Salad

Tomato Jelly Salad

A salad of tomato jelly served on lettuce with optional eggs and onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 tomato jelly

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water for 30 minutes.

  2. Stew the tomatoes for 20 minutes.

  3. Add salt, pepper, and sugar to the tomatoes.

  4. Strain the tomato mixture.

  5. Return the strained mixture to the heat and bring it to a boil.

  6. Pour the hot mixture over the soaked gelatin.

  7. Strain the mixture again.

  8. Mold the mixture.

  9. Refrigerate until firm.

Serve

  1. Turn the jelly onto lettuce leaves.

  2. Drizzle salad dressing over the jelly.

  3. Add sliced hard boiled eggs and onion to the salad (optional).

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. Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,655 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,562 recipes

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

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

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

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 once chilled.
Tomatoes
Provide the main flavor, acidity, and liquid base of the jelly.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Pour the hot mixture over the soaked gelatin. Gelatin must be fully dissolved in hot liquid to set evenly. If the mixture is not hot enough, or the gelatin is not softened first, lumps and a weak, uneven set can result.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gelatin, tomato, pepper, sugar, lettuce, egg):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Cucumberbetter flavor fit
  3. Beetrootbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, tomato, pepper, sugar, lettuce, egg. 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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