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
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Place the meat in a pot with a small amount of water.
Cover and boil gently to extract the meat's juices.
Add tomatoes and finish
When the meat is nearly done, add the peeled tomatoes.
Stew until the tomatoes are cooked.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
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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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Veal + tomatotop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together709 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,049 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
- Meat (in the method)
- Releases juices and flavour into the water, forming the body of the soup.
- Peeled tomatoes
- Add acidity, colour and body as they soften during stewing.
The step that matters
Cover and boil gently. A gentle simmer lets juices leave the meat slowly while keeping its fibres tender. A hard, rapid boil toughens the meat and makes the broth cloudy and greasy.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Tomatothe original
- Spinachfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against veal, 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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