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Denver, Colorado

A tomato soup made with tomatoes, water, milk, baking powder, crackers, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Denver. Central Presbyterian church. Young ladies' mission band. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Denver, Colorado

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Pare and chop two good sized tomatoes.

  2. Put into one quart of boiling water, and let boil twenty minutes.

  3. Then turn in one quart of milk, at the same time adding a tea-spoon full of baking powder to prevent the ascidity of the tomatoes turning the milk.

  4. Add six rolled crackers, a piece of butter the size of an egg, salt, and let boil up.

  5. Add a little pepper.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1062Calories
55 gProtein
41 gFat
114 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
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.

By Denver. Central Presbyterian church. Young ladies' mission band. [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.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

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

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together738 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the main flavour and acidity that defines the soup.
Milk
Adds richness and body, though its proteins can curdle in acidic tomato.
Rolled crackers
Thicken the soup as their starch absorbs liquid and swells.
Butter
Adds fat for a rounder, smoother mouthfeel and flavour.
Baking powder (in the method)
Raises the pH to help keep the acidic tomatoes from curdling the milk.

The step that matters

Adding the milk to the tomato. Tomatoes are acidic, and acid can curdle milk proteins. The recipe adds baking powder to neutralise some of that acidity, which helps keep the milk smooth.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, egg, beef, tea, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, egg, beef, tea, pepper. 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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