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Tomato Soup

A tomato soup made with canned tomatoes, water, carrot, onion, thyme, baking soda, red pepper, salt, sugar, milk, butter, flour, served with beaten egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Tomato Soup

Why it works: Carrot and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,563 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Empty the can of tomatoes and fill it with water.

  2. Add the tomatoes, carrot, onion, and thyme to a pot and bring to a boil.

  3. Boil for half an hour.

  4. Stir in the baking soda, red pepper, salt, and sugar.

  5. Strain the mixture and return it to the pot.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the milk and butter, then thicken with flour to the consistency of cream.

  2. Serve with the beaten egg on top.

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. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Tomato + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,606 recipes

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

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, acidity and flavour of the soup.
Baking soda
Neutralises some of the tomato acidity, mellowing the flavour of the soup.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the soup's texture.
Flour
Thickens the soup so it reaches a creamy consistency.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, smoothing the mouthfeel.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Stir in the baking soda. Baking soda reacts with tomato acid and can cause foaming and a soapy taste if overused. Adding it in the stated small amount, then cooking, keeps the flavour balanced.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, carrot, thyme, pepper, sugar, milk, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, carrot, thyme, pepper, sugar, milk, egg. 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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