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Italian Tomato Soup

A simple tomato soup made with onions, tomatoes, water, Worcestershire sauce, cornstarch, cloves, salt, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Italian Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Fry one onion in butter, not letting it brown.

  2. Add two cans of tomatoes and one quart of water to the onion.

  3. Let the mixture boil for twenty minutes.

  4. Strain the soup through a colander, then return to the stove.

  5. Add one heaping tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in water, one dozen cloves, salt, and sugar to taste.

  6. Let boil for five minutes, then add one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

639Calories
16 gProtein
13 gFat
112 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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. See the original page.

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. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they 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

Cornstarch
Thickens the soup as it boils, giving it a smoother body.
Tomatoes
Form the soup's base, providing acidity and most of its flavour.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and sweetness as it softens in butter.

The step that matters

Adding the cornstarch slurry. Cornstarch must be fully dissolved in cold water before it goes into the boiling soup, otherwise it clumps. It thickens only once it reaches a boil, so the soup needs to keep simmering after it is added.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, onion, butter, tomato):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, onion, butter, 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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