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Tomato Soup

A vegetable soup made with tomatoes, stock, carrots, turnip, shallots, mace, herbs, vinegar, semolina, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Tomato Soup

Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pour the stock into a saucepan.

  2. Bring the stock to a gradual boil.

  3. Prepare and chop the carrots, turnip, and shallots.

Make the soup

  1. Add the chopped vegetables and tomatoes to the stock.

  2. Simmer gently. Remove any scum that rises to the surface.

  3. Add the mace. Add the mixed herbs. Add the vinegar or lemon juice.

  4. Season with salt and pepper.

  5. Continue to simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Strain and finish

  1. Strain the soup through a wire sieve or colander into a basin. Press the vegetables through with the back of a wooden spoon.

  2. Return the soup to the saucepan. Heat the soup again.

  3. Sprinkle in the semolina. Stir gently for about 10 minutes.

  4. Serve hot in a soup tureen.

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.

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.

  1. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together202 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,606 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

Tomatoes
Provide the main body, acidity and flavour of the soup.
Stock
Forms the liquid base that carries the soup's flavour.
Semolina
Thickens the soup as it heats, giving it body.
Carrot
Adds sweetness and body once simmered and pressed through.
Turnip
Adds body and mild earthy flavour once simmered and pressed through.

The step that matters

Stir the semolina in gently. Semolina thickens as its starch gelatinises in hot liquid. Adding it to a boiling soup or stirring vigorously can cause lumps or a gummy texture, so it should be sprinkled in while the soup is hot but not violently boiling, and stirred gently.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, carrot, turnip, shallot, vinegar, semolina, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, carrot, turnip, shallot, vinegar, semolina, 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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