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Macaroni and Tomato Soup

A beef broth with tomatoes and macaroni, simmered slowly and thickened with cornstarch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Macaroni and Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. Combine the beef and cold water in a soup pot.

  2. Heat slowly to boiling.

  3. Skim off any foam.

  4. Simmer for 2 hours.

  5. Add onion, parsley, and cloves.

  6. Cook for an additional hour.

  7. Skim off all fat.

Finish the soup

  1. Mix cornstarch with 1 cup of cold water and stir into the soup.

  2. Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper.

  3. Cook gently for another 30 minutes.

  4. Strain the soup and return it to the kettle.

Add the macaroni

  1. Cook macaroni in 1 quart of boiling water for 20 minutes.

  2. Drain and rinse with cold water.

  3. Add the macaroni and cook for 20 more minutes.

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.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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

Neck of beef
Breaks down slowly during simmering to give the broth body and meaty flavor.
Cornstarch
Thickens the soup as it is stirred in, giving it a smoother, heavier body.
Stewed tomatoes
Add acidity and tomato flavor that brightens the broth.
Macaroni
Adds starchy pasta pieces that soften in the hot soup and make it more filling.

The step that matters

Stir the cornstarch in while the soup is hot. Cornstarch thickens only when heated, and it clumps if dropped in as dry powder. Mixing it with cold water first and stirring it into simmering liquid lets the starch disperse and swell evenly, giving a smooth, thickened soup.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, tomato, onion, parsley, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, tomato, onion, parsley, 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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