Why it works: Tomato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,398 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the tomato base
Stew the tomatoes with the bay leaf, parsley, and mace for 15 minutes.
Press the stewed tomatoes through a sieve.
Make the milk sauce
Boil the milk in a double boiler.
Rub together the Cottolene and flour, then add to the boiling milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Combine and serve
Add the sugar and baking soda to the tomatoes, then mix in the boiling milk.
Stir and serve immediately; do not reheat after mixing.
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.
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Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,398 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + macetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,268 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the body of the soup and, once thickened, gives it a smooth, creamy texture.
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main flavor and acidity, and the body of the soup once sieved.
- Cottolene
- Fat that coats flour particles and adds richness to the thickened sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk as it heats, giving the soup its body.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some tomato acidity, which helps keep the milk from curdling.
The step that matters
Adding the boiling milk to the tomatoes. Acidic tomatoes can curdle milk, especially when it is very hot. Stirring the milk in gradually, with the baking soda already in the tomatoes, helps keep the soup smooth. Serving immediately avoids further separation on reheating.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, tomato, parsley, sugar, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, tomato, parsley, sugar, 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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