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Cream Tomato Soup

A creamy tomato soup made with milk, corn starch, butter, and tomato juice.

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

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cream Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Thicken the milk with corn starch in a pot over medium heat.

  2. Add butter, salt, pepper, parsley, and onion juice.

Combine and finish

  1. Stir in the strained tomato juice and cook until heated through.

  2. Slowly combine the tomato mixture with the milk while stirring continuously.

  3. Just before serving, add baking soda and stir well.

  4. Add a bay leaf for improved flavor, if desired.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Corn + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  5. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base that gives the soup its body and mild sweetness.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk as it heats, giving the soup a smooth, body-rich texture.
Strained tomato juice
Supplies the main tomato flavor and acidity that defines the soup.
Baking soda
Neutralizes some of the tomato's acidity, reducing the risk of the milk curdling.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a rounder, smoother mouthfeel.
Onion juice
Adds a savory aroma and depth of flavor to the tomato and milk.

The step that matters

Slowly combine the tomato mixture with the milk. Tomato is acidic, and acid can cause hot milk proteins to curdle when they meet. Adding the mixture slowly while stirring continuously disperses the acid and heat gradually, keeping the soup smooth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, corn, butter, pepper, parsley, tomato):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, corn, butter, pepper, parsley, tomato. 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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