Why it works: Potato and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,798 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Slice the potatoes and tomatoes.
Cook
In a pot, combine the potatoes, tomatoes, water, butter, salt, and pepper.
Boil for one hour.
Stir in the egg yolk before serving.
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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Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,798 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 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
- Potatoes
- Break down while cooking to give the soup body and a thick, smooth texture.
- Tomatoes
- Provide acidity, colour and the main flavour of the soup as they soften.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, rounding out the acidity of the tomatoes.
- Egg yolk
- Stirred in at the end to enrich the soup and add a silky, creamy body.
The step that matters
Stir in the egg yolk before serving. Adding egg yolk to very hot soup can scramble it into specks. Let the soup cool slightly and stir steadily so the yolk thickens it smoothly.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, pepper, egg):
- Chivefits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, pepper, 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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