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Tomato Soup

A tomato soup thickened with flour and butter, simmered with stock, tomatoes, milk, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and saleratus.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Ladies' Benevolent Society, First Congregational Church (Fall River, Mass .). Ladies' Benevolent Society, Mass.) First Congregational Church (Fall River · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Tomato Soup

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomato base

  1. Take two and one half quarts of soup stock well seasoned with salt and pepper.

  2. Thicken with three tablespoons of flour well mixed with a half cup of butter.

  3. Then add two quarts of tomatoes which have been boiled and strained through a sieve.

  4. Boil five minutes, then serve immediately.

Prepare the milk and tomatoes

  1. Stew one quart can of tomatoes.

  2. While the tomatoes are stewing, put three pints of milk on to boil, setting the dish into another of hot water.

  3. When the milk comes to a boil, stir in a tablespoon full of flour which has been mixed with little cold milk.

  4. Boil ten minutes, then add butter the size of an egg, salt and pepper to taste.

  5. Add a pinch of saleratus to the tomatoes and strain into the mixture.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

734Calories
22 gProtein
21 gFat
113 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
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 Ladies' Benevolent Society, First Congregational Church (Fall River, Mass .). Ladies' Benevolent Society, Mass.) First Congregational Church (Fall River. 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. Butter + milktop 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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Tomato + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Flour
Thickens the soup stock and milk into a smoother, heavier body.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the soup.
Tomatoes
Provide the main body, acidity and flavor of the soup.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the acidity of the tomatoes.
Soup stock
Provides the savory liquid base that carries the other ingredients.

The step that matters

Adding the milk. Acidic tomatoes can curdle hot milk. Heating the milk gently in a water bath and adding the tomatoes carefully helps keep the soup smooth.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, milk, 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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