Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Peel and cook the tomatoes, or use canned tomatoes.
Make the soup
In a pot, combine the tomatoes with baking soda and milk.
Season with salt and pepper.
Finish
Just before serving, stir in the crackers or bread crumbs and the butter.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Form the main body and tomato flavor of the soup, with natural acidity.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes tomato acid so the milk is less likely to curdle when combined.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and a smooth, mellow body to the tomatoes.
- Crackers or bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and thicken the soup, adding body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.
The step that matters
Combine the tomatoes with the baking soda and milk. Tomatoes are acidic, and acid can cause milk to curdle when the two are heated together. Baking soda raises the pH and neutralizes that acid, helping the soup stay smooth. Adding it before or with the milk, rather than after, is what protects the texture.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, pepper, bread, egg, butter):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, pepper, bread, egg, 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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