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Tomato Soup

A hearty tomato soup made with beef stock, tomatoes, onions, and thickened with flour and cracker crumbs.

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

Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,092 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Combine the beef or stock with cold water in a kettle and bring to a boil.

  2. Simmer for 3 hours if using meat, or 30 minutes if using prepared stock.

  3. Remove the meat and add the tomatoes and onion to the soup.

  4. Season with salt and pepper.

Thicken and finish

  1. Dissolve the flour in a small amount of water, stir it into the soup, and boil for 30 minutes.

  2. Strain the soup.

  3. Bring the canned tomatoes to a boil in a separate pot and strain through a coarse strainer.

  4. Add baking soda and wait for the foaming to cease.

  5. Stir in the milk and butter, season to taste, and thicken slightly with cracker crumbs.

  6. Boil for a few moments and serve.

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

  1. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together5,448 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

Beef or prepared stock
Provides the savory liquid base that carries the soup's flavor.
Tomatoes
Supply the acidity, color and body that define the soup.
Flour
Thickens the soup by swelling in liquid as it boils.
Baking soda
Neutralizes acidity from the tomatoes, which mellows their sharpness and causes foaming.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the tomato's acidity for a smoother flavor.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda. Baking soda reacts with the tomato acid and releases gas, causing foaming. Add it slowly and wait for the foaming to stop before adding milk, so the soup does not boil over and the flavor is balanced.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

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

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, tomato, pepper, flour, milk, butter. 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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