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Tomato Soup with Sago

A tomato soup flavored with sago pearls, simmered with onion, parsley, bay leaf, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomato Soup with Sago

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Put 1 quart of stewed or 1 can of tomatoes into a saucepan; add 1 slice of onion, 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig of parsley; simmer gently for 10 minutes.

  2. While the tomatoes simmer, soak 4 tablespoons of pearl sago in a pint of water for 2 hours.

  3. After soaking, drain the sago and cook it slowly in the saucepan until it becomes clear.

  4. Press the tomatoes.

Finish and serve

  1. Strain the soup through a fine sieve; add the sago and a pint of water or stock; stir in 1 tablespoon of butter; add salt and pepper; serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

155Calories
2 gProtein
12 gFat
12 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
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
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 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.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Pearl sago (in the method)
Swells when cooked until clear, giving the soup a thickened, slightly gelatinous body.
Tomatoes (in the method)
Provide the main body, colour and acidic tomato flavour of the soup.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Cooking the sago until clear. Sago must be cooked slowly and fully, because its starch only becomes clear and tender once the granules have gelatinized; undercooked sago stays opaque and chewy.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, butter, 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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