Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,923 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the tomato base
In a pot, melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the onions until soft.
Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for about 20 minutes.
Rub the mixture through a sieve to remove seeds and pulp.
Finish the soup
Combine the tomato pulp with the stock in the pot and bring to a boil.
Soak the tapioca in water for 1 hour, then add it to the boiling soup.
Stir continuously until the soup boils again, then cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Season with pepper and salt to taste.
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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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together5,442 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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 once cooked and sieved.
- Stock
- Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries its savoury depth.
- Tapioca
- Thickens the soup as its starch swells and gelatinises when boiled.
- Onions
- Sweeten and add aromatic depth when softened in butter.
- Butter or fat
- Carries flavour from the onions and adds richness to the soup.
The step that matters
Adding the tapioca to the boiling soup. Tapioca starch can clump if dropped in unevenly, so stirring continuously while it is added and as the soup returns to a boil helps it disperse and thicken smoothly.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, mutton, tomato, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Carrotabout as good a flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, mutton, tomato, pepper. 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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