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Tomato Soup

A tomato soup made with canned tomatoes, water, stock, butter, onions, parsley, and seasonings, served with toasted croutons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Tracy, Suzanne. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Tomato Soup

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomato base

  1. Add the canned tomatoes, water, sugar, cloves, and peppercorns to a pot and stew slowly until the tomatoes are tender.

  2. Press the mixture through a strainer, removing only the seeds and skin.

  3. Return the strained tomatoes to the pot and add the soup stock or water.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a small pan, add the onion and parsley, and cook until lightly browned.

  2. Add the cornstarch to the pan and cook together, then slowly add one cupful of the stock, stirring until it forms a smooth sauce.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the sauce to the soup and cook for fifteen minutes; season with salt and pepper, strain, and serve with croutons.

  2. Cut a slice of stale bread into one‑half‑inch dice, toast until nicely browned, and serve with the soup.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

719Calories
18 gProtein
14 gFat
132 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Soupnot 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.

By Tracy, Suzanne. [from old catalog]. 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.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Canned tomatoes
Provide the main body, flavor, and liquid of the soup.
Butter
Adds richness and helps brown the onion and parsley for flavor.
Cornstarch
Thickens the stock into a smooth sauce that gives the soup body.
Soup stock
Adds savory depth and liquid to the strained tomato base.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.
Stale bread
Toasted into croutons that add crisp texture to the soup.

The step that matters

Adding the cornstarch sauce to the soup. Cornstarch must be cooked in the fat and stock until it forms a smooth sauce before it goes into the hot soup; added raw or in lumps, it clumps and leaves a grainy texture. Simmering afterward fully thickens the starch.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sugar, butter, pepper, corn, bread, parsley):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Basilfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sugar, butter, pepper, corn, bread, parsley. 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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