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Tomato Soup

A tomato soup made by boiling tomatoes, adding milk, baking soda, butter, salt, pepper, and thickening with bread crumbs or crackers.

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

Why it works: Butter and bread 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

Make the tomato base

  1. Boil the tomatoes in 2 quarts of water until soft.

  2. Strain the mixture through a colander.

Finish the soup

  1. Add 1 quart of milk, 1-2 teaspoons of baking soda, a little butter, salt, and pepper.

  2. Thicken the soup with bread crumbs or rolled crackers.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Provide the main body and flavor of the soup once boiled soft and strained.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, softening the tomato's acidity.
Baking soda
Neutralizes some of the tomato's acidity, which helps keep the milk from curdling.
Bread crumbs or rolled crackers
Absorb liquid and swell, thickening the soup's texture.

The step that matters

Adding baking soda to the tomato and milk. Tomato acid can make cold milk curdle when combined. Baking soda neutralizes some of that acid, so it should be stirred in carefully and the amount kept within the stated range to avoid a bitter or soapy taste.

Swap the tomato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, pepper, bread. 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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