Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 124,287 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
ToMATO Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Combine water and sliced tomatoes in a pot and cook until tender, about 45 minutes.
Strain the mixture.
In a bowl, mix flour, butter, sugar, and salt with a little soup until smooth. Stir the mixture back into the soup and let it boil for a moment.
Finish and serve
Serve hot. If desired, dissolve baking soda in hot water and add to the soup to reduce sourness.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Tomato + flourtop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7,065 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body, flavor and acidity of the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup, giving it a smoother, heavier body.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richer flavor and a smoother mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some acidity in sour tomatoes, mellowing the flavor.
The step that matters
Mixing the flour paste into the soup. Flour clumps if added directly to hot liquid. Mixing it first with a little soup into a smooth paste lets it disperse evenly, so the soup thickens without lumps.
“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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