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Tomato Soup

A tomato soup made with fish stock, onions, mace, bouquet garni, and thickened with flour and tapioca.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Tomato Soup

Why it works: Mace and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,400 recipes mention both. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Tomato Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fish stock

  1. Chop the fish bones and trimmings and place them in a stew pan with about 3 pints of water.

  2. Add the peeled onion, cloves, mace, and bouquet garni.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  4. Skim the surface.

  5. Simmer for about 30 minutes.

Make the soup

  1. Cut the tomatoes into slices.

  2. Melt the butter in another stew pan.

  3. Add the sliced tomatoes and cook over high heat.

  4. Strain the fish stock into the pan with the tomatoes.

  5. Mix the flour with the milk.

  6. Add the flour‑milk mixture to the soup, stirring until it begins to boil.

  7. Skim the soup.

  8. Cook slowly for about 30 minutes.

  9. Season with pepper and salt.

  10. Rub the soup through a fine sieve.

  11. Bring to a boil again.

  12. Stir in the tapioca.

  13. Let simmer for another 10 minutes before serving.

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. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

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

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

  5. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the main flavour and body of the soup, breaking down during cooking.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour through the soup.
Flour
Thickens the milk mixture so it lends body to the soup.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the soup's flavour.
Crushed tapioca
Thickens the soup further when stirred in near the end.

The step that matters

Stir the flour-milk mixture in while the soup is hot. Adding flour to liquid without first making a paste can cause lumps. Stirring constantly as the soup heats lets the starch disperse and thicken evenly, and the soup must then be brought to a boil to fully thicken.

Flavor stand-ins for the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, fish, flour, butter, milk, onion, clove):

  1. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  2. Cardamombetter flavor fit
  3. Thymebetter flavor fit
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, fish, flour, butter, milk, onion, clove. 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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