Why it works: Tomato and cucumber are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,405 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the base
Combine tomatoes, soup bone, onion, cucumber, grated corn, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper in a large pot.
Boil for 4 hours.
Thicken and serve
Dissolve corn starch in cold water and add to the pot.
Strain the soup 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Tomato + cucumbertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,405 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,099 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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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Onion + cucumbertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,050 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).
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 bright flavor of the soup.
- Soup bone
- Adds savory depth and body to the broth as it simmers.
- Onion
- Adds aroma and mellow sweetness as it cooks down into the liquid.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the soup as its starch swells when heated in the liquid.
The step that matters
Dissolve the corn starch in cold water first. Starch dropped dry into hot soup clumps and stays grainy. A cold water slurry disperses the granules evenly, so they swell smoothly and thicken the soup when heated.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cucumber, corn, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Lettucebetter flavor fit
- Eggplantbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cucumber, corn, 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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