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How We Cook in Tennessee

A tomato soup thickened with flour and sweet milk, seasoned with butter, salt, and red pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jackson (Tenn.). First Baptist Church. The Silver Thimble Society · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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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 ↓

How We Cook in Tennessee

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Use one two-pound can of tomatoes.

  2. Add one-half cup of water to the tomatoes.

  3. Place the tomatoes on the stove and boil until they break into pieces, adding a pinch of soda.

Make the soup

  1. Pour the tomatoes into a quart of boiling sweet milk.

  2. Remove a little milk, dissolve one teaspoon of flour and one teaspoon of sugar in it, stir into the soup, and let boil for ten minutes.

  3. Add butter, salt, and red pepper to taste.

  4. Strain the soup through cheesecloth.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

694Calories
23 gProtein
10 gFat
128 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
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 Jackson (Tenn.). First Baptist Church. The Silver Thimble Society. 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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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
Form the body and main flavor of the soup, with natural acidity.
Sweet milk
Provides the creamy body and mild sweetness that make the soup rich.
Flour
Thickens the soup slightly as it boils.
Soda
Neutralizes some tomato acidity, which reduces the chance of the milk curdling.

The step that matters

Pouring the tomatoes into the boiling milk. Tomatoes are acidic, and acid can make milk curdle, especially when it is hot. Cooking the tomatoes with soda first lowers their acidity and helps keep the soup smooth. Pour the tomatoes in steadily while the milk is boiling and stir as you go.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, celery, pepper, parsley. 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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