Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,923 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Melt the butter in a stewpan.
Slice the onions and fry them in the butter.
Add the tomatoes and stew for 20 minutes.
Rub the mixture through a sieve.
Prepare the stock from beef, mutton, veal, or a marrow bone with vegetables for flavor.
Make the soup
Add the tomato pulp to the stock and bring to a boil.
Soak the tapioca for an hour, then add it to the boiling soup.
Stir continuously until it boils, then cook for an additional 10 minutes.
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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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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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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, flavor and acidity of the soup.
- Tapioca
- Thickens the soup as its starch swells and gelatinizes when boiled.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavor when the onions are fried.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aroma as they soften and brown in butter.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base that carries the soup's savory flavor.
The step that matters
Stir continuously until the tapioca boils. Tapioca can clump and settle on the bottom of the pan if not stirred. Constant stirring keeps it evenly dispersed while its starch swells and thickens the soup.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, tomato, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Carrotabout as good a flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, tomato, 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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