Why it works: Tomato and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,099 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Mock-bisque Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Boil the tomatoes alone for 30 minutes, adding the baking soda, salt, pepper, and sugar.
When the tomatoes are soft, strain them through a fine sieve.
Make the milk base
Heat the milk in a double boiler or a tin pail set in a kettle of water until scalding.
Thicken the hot milk with the corn-starch mixed with a little cold milk.
Combine and serve
If ready to serve, combine the boiling milk with the strained tomatoes, stir, and serve immediately.
Do not heat the combined soup after mixing, or the milk will curdle.
If preparing in advance, keep the tomato and milk separate until ready to serve.
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.
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Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,099 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomato
- Forms the main body and flavor of the soup once boiled and strained.
- Milk
- Provides the creamy base and smooth, rich texture of the bisque.
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the hot milk so the soup becomes smooth and body-rich.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some tomato acidity, mellowing the flavor and helping keep the milk stable.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Do not reheat the combined soup. Once hot tomato is mixed with milk, the milk can curdle if heated further, so the soup should be served right after combining.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, corn, sugar, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, corn, sugar, 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.
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