Why it works: Tomato and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,099 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Corn and Tomato Soup with Stock
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Combine beef and water in a granite kettle; boil gently for 2 hours.
Strain the broth and return it to the fire.
Add the vegetables
Add tomatoes and boil for 1 hour.
Drain and pass the tomatoes through a fine sieve back into the kettle.
Add corn, butter, salt, and pepper; boil for 20 minutes.
Serve
Serve with crisp 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.
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.
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Tomato + corntop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,099 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Simmered in water to build a rich, savory broth base.
- Tomatoes
- Add acidity and body to the broth once passed through a sieve.
- Corn
- Adds sweetness and tender texture to the finished soup.
- Butter
- Adds fat and a rounded, smooth richness to the soup.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, corn, butter, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Tomatothe original
- Carrotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, corn, butter, 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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