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Cream of Tomato Soup

A tomato soup thickened with corn starch and butter, flavored with sugar, cloves, salt, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Cream of Tomato Soup

Why it works: Clove and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 6,768 recipes mention both. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomato base

  1. Add 10 medium-sized tomatoes to 1 pt. of water, or 1 qt. of canned tomatoes, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 8 whole cloves, 1 onion, a little parsley, and boil fifteen or twenty minutes.

  2. Add a small teaspoon of soda and, after a few minutes, strain.

Make the milk base

  1. Thicken 1 qt. of milk with a large tablespoon of corn starch, stirring and boiling for ten minutes.

Combine and heat

  1. Add a little salt, a sprinkling of cayenne, a heaping tablespoon of butter, and the tomato mixture, allowing the whole to become thoroughly heated through, but not to boil.

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Corn + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together943 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Corn + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together712 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Clove + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes (in the method)
Provide the main body, acidity and flavor of the soup.
Milk (in the method)
Forms the creamy base that gives the soup its body and smooth texture.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk so the soup has a smooth, body-rich consistency.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich mouthfeel and smooth finish.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with mild sweetness.

The step that matters

Heating the combined soup without boiling. Milk can curdle or separate when it boils, especially when acidic tomatoes are added. Heating gently keeps the soup smooth and creamy.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, corn, clove, parsley. 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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