Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock base
Combine beef stock, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and turnip in a large pot.
Boil for 1.5 hours.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.
Finish the soup
Melt butter over medium heat in a large saucepan until light brown.
Add flour to the butter and mix well.
Stir in sugar, salt, and pepper.
Add the strained soup to the saucepan.
Bring to a boil.
Skim off any foam.
Boil for 5 minutes.
Serve very hot.
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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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Tomato + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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, acidity and flavor of the soup.
- Beef stock
- Forms the liquid base that carries and extracts flavor from the vegetables.
- Butter
- Adds richness and, browned, a nutty aroma to the soup.
- Flour
- Cooked with the butter, it thickens the soup and gives it body.
- Onions
- Add savory depth and aroma as they cook in the stock.
- Sugar
- Balances the tomato acidity with sweetness.
The step that matters
Cooking the butter and flour. Butter browned until light brown adds flavor, but if the flour is not mixed in well it can form lumps and the roux may scorch, so keep it stirred over medium heat.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, onion, turnip, butter, flour, sugar):
- Leekfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Chivefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, onion, turnip, butter, flour, sugar. 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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