Why it works: Tomato and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,099 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Cover the soup bone with cold water and add the onions.
When the meat falls from the bone, add enough water to make four quarts.
Remove the bone and onions, let the soup cool, then remove the grease.
Finish and serve
Add the tomatoes, sugar, corn starch mixed with butter, salt, and pepper.
Boil for a few minutes and serve.
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.
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Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,099 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,474 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
- Soup bone
- Releases meat flavor and gelatin into the water as it simmers, giving the broth body.
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main flavor and acidity of the soup, and most of its color.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the soup as it heats, giving it a smoother body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries the corn starch, helping it blend in without lumps.
- Onions
- Add aromatic sweetness and depth to the broth as it simmers.
The step that matters
Mixing corn starch with butter before adding. Corn starch added directly to hot liquid clumps. Blending it with fat first helps it disperse evenly, so the soup thickens smoothly without lumps.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sugar, corn, butter, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sugar, corn, butter, pepper. 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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