Name: Cream of Tomato, or Mock Bisque
Ingredients: one quart can of tomatoes; one-half cupfuls of rich four cloves; one tablespoonful of sugar; one tablespoonful of butter; one pint of water; one tablespoonful of flour; one pint of the stewed; a pinch of soda; four pepper corns; cloves; pepper; salt; cayenne

Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. 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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,099 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + corntop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,324 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,474 recipes

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

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 flavour of the soup.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, and with flour forms the base of the sauce.
Flour: Thickens the soup into a smooth, body-rich sauce when cooked with butter.
Rich cream: Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the soup.
Sugar: Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with mild sweetness.

The step that matters

Serve immediately once heated. Tomato soups containing milk or cream can curdle when held standing, because the acidic tomatoes cause the dairy proteins to separate. Serving hot and promptly keeps the bisque smooth.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, sugar, butter, flour, pepper, corn):

Capsicumfits better
Sweet potatofits better
Carrotfits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, sugar, butter, flour, pepper, corn. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Cream of Tomato, or Mock Bisque