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Soup

Mock Oyster Soup

A tomato-based soup flavored with baking soda, milk, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Mock Oyster Soup

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 ↓

Mock Oyster Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a pot, combine the can of tomatoes and a pinch of baking soda, and cook down until mushy.

  2. In a separate pot, bring the quart of milk to a boil.

Combine and serve

  1. Mix the cooked tomatoes into the boiling milk and season with salt and pepper to taste.

  2. Serve immediately.

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

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

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

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

  3. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Cooked down, they give the soup its body and tomato flavour.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base that gives the soup its richness and mild sweetness.
Baking soda
Neutralises some of the tomatoes' acidity, softening their sharpness and helping prevent curdling.

The step that matters

Mixing the tomatoes into the boiling milk. Tomatoes are acidic, and acid in hot milk can cause it to curdle. Baking soda raises the tomatoes' pH, which lowers this risk. Cooking the tomatoes down first helps keep the soup smooth.

Swap the tomato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, pepper. 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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