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Tomato Soup

A savory soup made with tomatoes, onion, ham, and seasonings, simmered and strained.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Tomato Soup

Why it works: Tomato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 20,633 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Melt the butter in a pan.

  2. Fry the ham in the melted butter.

  3. Remove the ham from the pan.

  4. Add the flour to the pan and stir until the flour turns a nice brown.

  5. Pour in the water.

Simmer and strain

  1. Add the fried ham, quartered tomatoes, onion, and cloves.

  2. Boil for 45 minutes.

  3. Remove the ham and cloves.

  4. Strain the soup through a wire sieve.

  5. Return the soup to the pan.

Season and serve

  1. Add vinegar.

  2. Add sugar.

  3. Season with pepper and salt.

  4. Re-boil for 5 minutes.

  5. Pour into a tureen.

  6. For a nice red color, stir in 2 or 3 drops of cochineal before serving.

  7. Serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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, flavor and acidity of the soup.
Butter
Carries the frying of the ham and adds richness to the base.
Flour
Browned in the butter, it thickens the soup and adds toasty flavor.
Vinegar
Adds sharpness that brightens the tomato flavor.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Browning the flour. Flour cooked in butter turns from pale to brown quickly, and over-browning gives a bitter, burnt taste. Stir constantly and stop once it reaches a nice brown.

Flavor stand-ins for the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, onion, ham, butter, flour, vinegar, sugar):

  1. Garlicbetter flavor fit
  2. Capersbetter flavor fit
  3. Tarragonbetter flavor fit
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, ham, butter, flour, vinegar, sugar. 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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