Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Tomato Soup Without Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Cook the tomatoes thoroughly in the water.
Scald the milk in a separate pan over water to prevent scorching.
Once the tomatoes are done, add the baking soda carefully to prevent overflow.
After the effervescence subsides, add the scalded milk and season with salt and pepper.
Serve
For a richer flavor, use more milk than water and substitute cream for butter.
Serve the soup with crackers.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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 + milktop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,226 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Form the base of the soup and provide its main flavor and acidity.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the tomato acidity when added to the soup.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes tomato acidity, causing foaming and making the milk less likely to curdle.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda. Baking soda reacts with the acid in tomatoes and releases carbon dioxide, causing vigorous foaming that can overflow the pot. Add it slowly and wait for the fizzing to settle before adding the milk, so the soup stays in the pan and the milk is less likely to curdle.
“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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