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Cream Soup

A creamy tomato soup made with boiled tomatoes, onions, celery, cream, milk, butter, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Cream Soup

Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cream Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomato base

  1. Boil the tomatoes with water, onions, and celery tops for 30 minutes.

  2. Add baking soda to the tomatoes and strain the mixture.

Make the cream base

  1. In a pan, mix butter and flour until smooth.

  2. Gradually add cream and milk to the butter‑flour mixture, stirring constantly.

Combine and season

  1. Combine the strained tomato mixture with the cream mixture.

  2. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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

Tomato
Provides the main flavour and body of the soup.
Baking soda
Neutralises tomato acidity, mellowing the taste and softening the colour.
Butter and flour
Flour thickens the milk and cream into a smooth, body-rich base with the butter.
Cream
Adds richness, fat and a smooth, velvety texture.
Milk
Thins the base and adds mild sweetness and body alongside the cream.

The step that matters

Adding the cream and milk to the butter-flour mixture. Adding liquid gradually while stirring constantly keeps the flour dispersed, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, milk, onion, celery, butter, flour, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, milk, onion, celery, butter, flour, pepper. 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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