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Meatless Tomato Soup

A tomato soup made without meat, simmered with water, tomatoes, baking soda, salt, pepper, milk, crackers, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Meatless Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the tomatoes

  1. Combine water and tomatoes in a pot.

  2. Stew until the tomatoes are soft.

  3. Add baking soda.

  4. Allow the mixture to foam.

Finish the soup

  1. Stir in salt.

  2. Stir in pepper.

  3. Stir in boiling milk.

  4. Add rolled cracker.

  5. Add butter.

  6. Boil for a few minutes.

  7. Serve.

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.

  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

Tomatoes
Provide the main body, flavor and acidity of the soup.
Baking soda
Neutralizes tomato acid and causes the mixture to foam.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a smooth, mellow texture.
Rolled cracker
Absorbs liquid and thickens the soup slightly.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stir in boiling milk. Tomatoes are acidic, and acid can curdle milk, especially when it is hot. Baking soda has already neutralized much of that acid, which helps the milk stay smooth. Adding the milk gradually and keeping the soup from overheating after that helps prevent curdling.

Swap the tomato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, milk, 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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