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Italian Soup

A simple Italian soup of macaroni, tomatoes, butter, and cheese rind simmered in water or stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Italian Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the soup base

  1. Bring the water or stock to a boil.

  2. Add the macaroni and boil for 25 to 30 minutes.

  3. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water.

  4. Remove the skin from the tomatoes.

  5. Slice the tomatoes.

  6. Combine the sliced tomatoes, butter, pepper, and salt in a saucepan. Cook for a few minutes.

  7. Cut the macaroni into 1-inch pieces.

Assemble and serve

  1. Layer the tomatoes, grated cheese rind, and macaroni in a soup tureen, repeating until all ingredients are used.

  2. Pour the boiling liquid from the macaroni over the layers. Cover for a few minutes.

  3. Serve.

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

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

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + cheesetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,896 recipes

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

  4. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

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

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 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

Macaroni
Provides the starchy body of the soup and becomes tender as it cooks in the liquid.
Tomatoes
Supply acidity, moisture and a fresh tomato flavor that forms the bulk of the soup.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the tomato mixture.
Cheese rind
Releases savory, salty flavor into the hot liquid as it steeps in the soup.

Swap the tomato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cheese, 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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