Name: Chilled Moroccan Tomato Soup
Ingredients: 2 medium tomatoes, diced; 1 stalk celery, finely chopped; 1 scallion, finely chopped; 1 quart chilled tomato juice; 1/4 cup chilled orange juice; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon paprika; 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; hot pepper sauce; salt

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Cumin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,103 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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, acidity and fresh tomato flavor of the soup.
Tomato juice: Supplies the liquid base and moisture that makes the soup pourable.
Olive oil: Carries the fat-soluble spice flavors and adds a smooth mouthfeel.
Garlic: Adds pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens when briefly cooked in oil.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavors and balances the sweetness of the tomatoes.

The step that matters

Cooking the garlic and spices in oil. Garlic and ground spices can scorch quickly over heat, turning bitter. Stirring constantly over medium heat for the stated minute blooms their fat-soluble aromas without burning them.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, celery, olive, clove, garlic, cumin, cinnamon):

Limefits better
Avocadofits better
Lemonfits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, celery, olive, clove, garlic, cumin, cinnamon. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0

Chilled Moroccan Tomato Soup