Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 43,450 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Mix hot water or veal stock with strained hot tomato juice in a pot.
Dissolve cornstarch in a little cold water and stir it into the boiling mixture.
Boil for 10 minutes, then season with salt and sugar if desired.
Finish and serve
Remove from heat, add hot cream, mix well, and serve.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Veal + tomatotop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together709 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Veal + creamtop 27% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together3,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Tomato + creamtop 32% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together2,034 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together4,667 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomato juice
- Provides the main body and tomato flavour of the soup.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the liquid as it boils, giving the soup body.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, mellow texture to the acidic tomato base.
The step that matters
Stir cornstarch into the boiling mixture. Cornstarch must be fully dispersed in cold water first, then added to boiling liquid, so it thickens evenly without lumps. Keep boiling for the full 10 minutes so the starch cooks fully and loses its raw taste.
“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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