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Tomato Soup

A hearty soup made with chicken, tomatoes, rice, cream, butter, salt, and pepper.

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

Why it works: Chicken and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large pot, bring 1 gallon of water to a boil.

  2. Add ½ chicken and boil for 30 minutes.

Make the soup

  1. Stir in 2 large tomatoes (or 1 cup canned) and 1 cup rice.

  2. Just before serving, add 1 cup cream and 1 small lump of butter.

  3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

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

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

  5. Chicken + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,031 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the main flavour and body of the soup, with natural acidity.
Rice
Thickens the soup as its starch releases during simmering.
Cream
Adds richness and a smoother, softer texture to the finished soup.
Chicken
Gives the broth its savoury, meaty base as it simmers.

The step that matters

Adding the cream and butter. Cream and butter are added just before serving so they stay fresh and smooth. Boiling dairy for a long time can cause it to separate or turn grainy.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Onionfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, rice, cream, 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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