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Soup

Corn and Tomato Cream Soup

A creamy soup made with corn, tomato sauce, rice, and broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Corn and Tomato Cream Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the corn from the ears and place it in a saucepan.

  2. Add the sliced onion, chopped celery, and parsley.

  3. Pour in the white broth (or water) and milk, then season with salt.

Simmer

  1. Bring to a boil, then add the raw rice.

  2. Reduce heat and let it boil slowly for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.

Finish and serve

  1. Press the mixture through a sieve and strainer back into the saucepan.

  2. Stir in the butter and tomato sauce, then boil for 5 minutes.

  3. Serve with croutons.

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.

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. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  3. Corn + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Corn + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Corn
Provides the main sweet flavour and body of the soup.
Raw rice
Breaks down during long simmering to thicken the soup.
Milk
Adds richness and a creamy texture to the soup.
Butter
Contributes fat for a smoother, rounder mouthfeel.
Tomato sauce
Adds acidity and colour, balancing the sweetness of the corn.

The step that matters

Slow simmer with occasional stirring. Simmering gently for 1.5 hours lets the rice soften fully so it thickens the soup. Stirring prevents starches and milk solids from sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pan, which would add a burnt taste.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, celery, parsley, milk, rice, butter, tomato):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, celery, parsley, milk, rice, butter, tomato. 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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