Name: Tomato Soup with Whipped Cream
Ingredients: 4 cups tomatoes, chopped; 1 onion, chopped; 2 tablespoons butter; 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth; 1 cup heavy cream; Salt and pepper to taste; Fresh herbs for garnish (optional)

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 Whipped Cream

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the soup

In a pot, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent.
Stir in the chopped tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the broth and bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.
Blend the soup until smooth, then return to heat.

Finish and serve

Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper.
Serve hot, garnished with fresh herbs if desired.

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).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,031 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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, sweetness and acidity of the soup.
Butter: Adds fat and rich flavour while softening the onion.
Onion: Builds savoury aroma and sweetness as it softens in the butter.
Vegetable or chicken broth: Supplies liquid that cooks the tomatoes and sets the soup's thinness.
Heavy cream: Adds fat for a smooth, rounded texture and mellows the acidity.

The step that matters

Blend the soup until smooth, then return to heat.. Blending while the soup is hot and fully cooked breaks down the tomato and onion fibres into a smooth purée. Cooling the soup first can leave it grainy and less stable when reheated.

Swap the tomato

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

Potatofits better
Leekfits better
Capsicumfits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, butter, chicken, cream, 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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Chicken Broth257 recipes

Chicken Soup156 recipes

Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes

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Tomato Soup with Whipped Cream