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Tomato Soup

A tomato soup made with peeled tomatoes, milk, butter, and crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Tomato Soup

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Stew the tomatoes

  1. Place the peeled tomatoes and a pinch of baking soda in a pot over the fire.

  2. Stew the tomatoes until soft.

Finish the soup

  1. Add the boiling milk, salt, pepper, and butter, stirring well.

  2. Stir in the rolled crackers.

  3. If desired, strain to remove seeds.

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.

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.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  3. Tomato + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Peeled tomatoes
Provide the main body and tart, fruity flavor of the soup.
Baking soda
Neutralizes some of the tomatoes' acidity, mellowing the flavor and helping keep the milk smooth.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, turning the tomatoes into a soft, rich soup.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavor and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel.
Rolled crackers
Their starch thickens the soup and gives it more body.

The step that matters

Adding the boiling milk to the tomatoes. Tomatoes are acidic, and acid can make hot milk curdle, leaving a grainy texture. The small pinch of baking soda in the tomatoes reduces that acidity, which helps the soup stay smooth when the milk goes in.

Swap the tomato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, pepper, butter. 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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