Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Drain the liquid from the can of tomatoes.
Cook the tomato pulp with the onion until soft.
Press the cooked tomato pulp and onion through a sieve.
Cook the strained tomatoes again until thick like ketchup.
Stir the baking soda into the hot tomatoes.
Let the mixture foam.
Make the milk base
Heat the milk in a separate pot.
Dissolve the cornstarch in a little cold milk.
Add the dissolved cornstarch to the heated milk along with the butter.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Combine and serve
Combine the tomato mixture with the milk.
Bring the combined soup to a boil.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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 flavor of the soup once cooked down.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base and adds richness and softness to the soup.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk base as it heats, giving the soup body.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smooth mouthfeel and rich flavor.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some of the tomato acidity and causes foaming when stirred into hot tomatoes.
The step that matters
Bring the combined soup to a boil after adding the tomatoes to the milk. Tomato acid can curdle milk proteins when the two are mixed, especially when hot. Baking soda was added earlier to reduce acidity, which lowers this risk. Heat must be controlled so the soup thickens smoothly without separating.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, milk, butter, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Carrotabout as good a flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, milk, butter, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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