Why it works: Tarragon and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 425 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Tomato Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the jelly
Boil the can of tomatoes with the bay leaf, parsley, and onion for 20 minutes.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.
Return the liquid to a kettle and add tarragon vinegar and softened gelatine.
Stir until the gelatine is dissolved, but do not boil.
Pour the mixture into a mould and refrigerate until firm.
Serve
Turn the jelly onto a bed of crisp lettuce and pour mayonnaise dressing over it.
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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Tarragon + lettucetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together425 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,563 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Parsley + lettucetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,483 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Tomato + tarragontop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together391 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,655 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
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main flavour and liquid base of the jelly.
- Gelatine
- Sets the strained liquid into a firm jelly when chilled.
- Tarragon vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the tomato flavour.
The step that matters
Stir until the gelatine is dissolved, but do not boil. Gelatine needs gentle heat to dissolve fully. Boiling can weaken its setting power, so the jelly may not firm properly.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, parsley, tarragon, vinegar, lettuce):
- Cucumberbetter flavor fit
- Shallotbetter flavor fit
- Mustardbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, parsley, tarragon, vinegar, lettuce. 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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