Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 6,810 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the tomatoes
Boil the tomatoes in enough water to cover for 1 hour.
Strain the mixture through a colander.
Thicken and serve
Return the juice to the heat and add ½ cup of flour-thickened milk.
Boil until slightly thickened, then slowly add 1 quart of milk.
Serve with dry toast and optional flavorings like parsley, onion, or celery.
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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Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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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Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,398 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the juice and acidity that form the soup's base.
- Flour
- Starch thickens the milk as it heats, giving the soup body.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and richness, softening the tomato's sharp acidity.
The step that matters
Adding the milk. Acidic tomato juice can make milk curdle when the two are combined hot. Adding the milk slowly and keeping the heat gentle helps the soup stay smooth.
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, flour, milk, onion, celery):
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Turmericabout as good a flavor fit
- Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, flour, milk, onion, celery. 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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