Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Tapioca Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Boil the soup bone very slowly for 6 hours.
Add the tomatoes and boil together for 20 minutes.
Strain the mixture and add the soaked tapioca.
Let it boil for an additional 30 minutes.
Serve
Serve hot, adding chopped celery if desired.
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.
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Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tapioca
- Swells as it cooks, thickening the soup and giving it a light, slightly gel-like body.
- Soup bone
- Slow simmering draws flavor and body from the bone into the broth.
- Tomatoes
- Add acidity and savory flavor to the broth.
The step that matters
Strain the mixture and add the soaked tapioca. Tapioca must be soaked first so it hydrates evenly. Added dry or unsoaked, it can clump and cook unevenly, and it needs the extra simmering time to soften fully and thicken the broth.
“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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