Why it works: Tomato and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 32% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,034 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Macaroni Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Boil the water in a pot.
Add the broken macaroni and cook for 1 hour.
Stir in the strained stewed tomatoes.
Finish
Just before serving, pour in the cream.
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 + creamtop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,034 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Macaroni
- Its starch thickens the broth slightly and gives the soup its body and bite.
- Strained stewed tomatoes
- They add acidity, savory flavor, and a smooth tomato base to the broth.
- Cream
- It adds richness and a silky texture that softens the tomato's sharpness.
The step that matters
Pour in the cream just before serving. Cream held at a boil in an acidic tomato base can curdle or separate. Adding it at the end, off the boil, keeps the soup smooth and creamy.
“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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