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
Combine 1 pint water and 8 whole cloves in a pot.
Add 1 quart canned tomatoes and ½ onion.
Add 1 teaspoon sugar and parsley.
Boil for 15 or 20 minutes.
Add 1 teaspoon soda.
Strain after a few minutes.
Thicken the milk
Add 1 quart milk and cayenne.
Add 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon butter to the milk.
Thicken the milk with cornstarch; add salt, cayenne, and butter, then add to tomatoes, allowing the mixture to become thoroughly heated.
Prepare and serve
Butter slices of stale bread, cut into 1-inch squares, and brown lightly in a quick oven.
Serve with soup.
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.
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Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,768 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + clovetop 23% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together14,045 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together17,182 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and clove share little aroma chemistry, yet 17,182 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Tomatoes (in the method)
- Form the main body and tangy, acidic flavor of the soup.
- Milk (in the method)
- Provides the creamy liquid and smooth, rich body of the soup.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk as its starch swells in heated liquid.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the tomatoes.
- Soda
- Reduces the tomatoes' acidity, softening the soup's sharp edge.
The step that matters
Combining the thickened milk with the tomatoes. Hot, acidic tomatoes can curdle milk when the two are combined. Thickening the milk with cornstarch first helps it stay smooth, so it should be fully thickened before it is added to the tomatoes.
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, clove):
- Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
- Nutmegbetter flavor fit
- Allspicebetter flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, clove. 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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