Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,874 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Combine the tomatoes, water, sugar, and spices in a pot.
Simmer for 30 minutes.
Melt the butter in a skillet.
Sauté the onion until soft but not browned.
Sprinkle the flour over the onion and cook for a few minutes.
Add the onion mixture to the soup and simmer for another 30 minutes.
Rub the soup through a sieve and serve.
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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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Canned tomatoes
- Form the body and main flavor of the soup.
- Flour
- Cooked with the butter and onion to thicken the soup slightly.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor from the onion.
- Onion
- Adds savory depth and aroma as it softens in the butter.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity of the tomatoes, adding sweetness.
The step that matters
Sauté the onion until soft but not browned. Browning the onion adds bitter, toasted notes that change the soup's flavor, while cooking it gently softens it and lets it blend smoothly when sieved.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sugar, flour, butter, pepper, clove, allspice):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Eggplantbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sugar, flour, butter, pepper, clove, allspice. 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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