Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and 78,219 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Tomato Soup Without Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Cook and season the tomatoes as desired.
Add baking soda and milk to the tomatoes.
Thicken and serve
Boil the milk and thicken it with flour until it reaches the consistency of drawn butter.
Mix everything together and strain into a tureen.
Serve immediately.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Tomato + milktop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,226 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Tomato + flourtop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7,065 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 78,219 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Prepared tomatoes
- Provide the main body, acidity and flavour of the soup.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy, smooth liquid base of the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the hot milk into a smooth sauce as its starch swells.
- Baking soda
- Neutralises tomato acid so the milk is less likely to curdle.
The step that matters
Add baking soda and milk to the tomatoes. Tomatoes are acidic, and acid can make milk proteins clump and curdle. Baking soda neutralises some of that acid, helping the soup stay smooth when the milk is added.
“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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