Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,232 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Tomato Soup Without Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the tomatoes in 2 quarts of water for 30 minutes.
Add baking soda, butter, salt, and pepper, then boil a little longer.
Stir in the milk or cream and boil for 1 minute.
Pour the soup over rolled crackers or bread crumbs.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body, flavour and acidity of the soup.
- Baking soda
- Neutralises some of the tomato's acidity, softening the flavour and reducing curdling risk.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the soup.
- Milk or cream
- Adds creaminess and mellows the tomato flavour.
- Rolled crackers or bread crumbs
- Thicken the soup and soak up liquid, giving it body.
The step that matters
Adding the milk or cream. Tomato acid can cause dairy to curdle when they meet, especially when hot. Baking soda is added first to reduce acidity, and the milk is then stirred in and only briefly boiled to keep it smooth.
“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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