Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 15,539 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Combine the can of tomatoes with the bay leaf, mace, and parsley in a pot. Let them stew for 15 minutes.
Press the stewed tomatoes through a sieve.
Make the white sauce
In a double boiler, bring the milk to a boil.
Mix the flour with the olive oil, then add it to the boiling milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Combine and serve
Add the sugar and baking soda to the tomatoes, then mix in the boiling milk. Stir and 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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Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,539 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Parsley + olivetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,649 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,398 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together78,219 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
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body, acidity and flavour of the soup.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base of the soup and gives it a smooth, rich texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce as its starch gelatinises when heated.
- Olive oil
- Coats the flour so it disperses evenly in the hot milk without lumping.
- Baking soda
- Neutralises some of the tomato acidity, which helps keep the milk from curdling.
The step that matters
Adding the boiling milk to the tomatoes. Acidic tomatoes can curdle milk when they meet. Baking soda is added first to raise the pH, and serving immediately keeps the soup smooth.
Flavor stand-ins for the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, parsley, milk, flour, olive, sugar):
- Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
- Cardamombetter flavor fit
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, parsley, milk, flour, olive, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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