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Almond Soup

A creamy soup of tomatoes, almonds, and stock, finished with butter, flour, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Almond Soup

Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Almond Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch and chop the almonds.

  2. Brown the almonds slightly in a little butter.

  3. Strain the stock and have it ready to use.

Make the soup

  1. Melt the butter in a pot.

  2. Add the flour and stir until blended.

  3. Slowly add 1 cup of stock and cook for 5 minutes.

  4. Add the remaining stock and strained tomatoes.

  5. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve

  1. Place the almonds in soup cups.

  2. Pour in the hot soup.

  3. Add 1 tablespoon of whipped cream when serving.

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.

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. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Tomato + chickentop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the main texture and a toasty, nutty flavor when browned in butter.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and cooks with the flour to start the thickening base.
Flour
Thickens the soup when cooked in butter and then blended with the stock.
Chicken stock
Forms the main liquid of the soup and carries its savory flavor.
Tomatoes
Add acidity, color and fruity body to the stock base.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel at serving.

The step that matters

Cooking the flour into the butter before adding stock. Stirring flour into melted butter and cooking it briefly coats the starch granules with fat, so they disperse evenly when liquid is added. Adding stock slowly while stirring prevents lumps, and the starch then swells as the soup heats, giving it body.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, almond, pepper, chicken, veal, butter, flour):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, almond, pepper, chicken, veal, butter, flour. 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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