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Tomato Soup

A savory soup made from tomatoes, stock, celery, parsley, onions, butter, flour, and seasonings, simmered and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Ithaca (N.Y.) First Baptist Church. Ladies Union · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 29 ingredients
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Tomato Soup

Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomato base

  1. Combine two quarts of boiling water with one pint of tomatoes.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Add half a teaspoon of soda.

  4. Add one pint of sweet milk.

  5. Add plenty of butter.

  6. Add pepper and salt to taste.

  7. Add a bit of chicken or any cold meat for flavor.

  8. Add a pint of water, a sprig of parsley, and celery to a quart of tomatoes.

  9. Simmer until the tomatoes are soft.

  10. Press the mixture through a sieve.

Make the roux and finish

  1. Melt a teaspoonful of butter.

  2. When hot, add chopped onion and a tablespoonful of flour.

  3. Do not allow it to burn.

  4. Add enough soup to make it smooth.

  5. Mix with the rest of the soup.

  6. Pass the whole through a strainer.

  7. Season with salt and heat.

  8. Stew tomatoes, onion, bay leaf, celery, and parsley until soft.

  9. Add stock.

  10. Bring to a boil.

  11. Add butter and flour rubbed together until smooth.

  12. Stir until smooth.

  13. Add salt, pepper, sugar, and soda.

  14. Serve.

By Ithaca (N.Y.) First Baptist Church. Ladies Union. 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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

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 flavor of the soup.
Butter
Enriches the soup and, with flour, forms a smoothing thickener.
Flour
Thickens the soup as a cooked roux, giving body and a smooth texture.
Sweet milk
Adds creaminess and richness, softening the tomato's acidity.

The step that matters

Do not allow the onion and flour to burn. Flour that browns in hot butter loses its thickening power and turns the soup dark and bitter-tasting, so it should be cooked gently and stirred.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, milk, celery, parsley, sugar, butter, flour):

  1. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  2. Potatobetter flavor fit
  3. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, milk, celery, parsley, sugar, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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