Name: Tomato Soup, with Stock
Ingredients: 1 quart stock; 1 quart tomatoes; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon pepper

Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Soup, with Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Stew the tomatoes until soft enough to strain.
Rough the tomatoes through a strainer, discarding the seeds.
Add the sugar, salt, and pepper to the strained tomatoes.
Combine the mixture with the boiling stock.

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.

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.

Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,401 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,667 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 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

Tomatoes: Provide the main body, flavor and acidity of the soup once softened and strained.
Stock: Supplies the liquid base that thins the tomato purée into a soup.
Sugar: Balances the sharpness of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.