Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Heat the tomatoes in a pot until boiling.
Add the baking soda and press the mixture through a colander.
Return the strained mixture to the pot and add salt, pepper, and celery seed to taste.
Thicken and finish
In a small bowl, rub the butter smooth with the flour, then add to the pot.
Let the soup boil, then stir in the hot sweet milk and serve immediately.
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 + celerytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + milktop 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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Form the soup's main body, providing liquid, flavor, and natural acidity.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some of the tomato's acidity, mellowing the sharpness and softening the flavor.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel, and carries flavor.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup as its starch swells in the hot liquid, especially when blended with butter.
- Sweet milk
- Adds creaminess and richness, softening the tomato's tang.
The step that matters
Stirring in the hot milk. Milk proteins can curdle when they meet hot, acidic tomato, which leaves the soup grainy. Adding the milk hot and serving immediately, before it has time to separate, keeps the soup smooth.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, celery, butter, flour, milk):
- Carrotfits better
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, celery, butter, flour, milk. 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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