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Mock Tomato Bisque

A creamy tomato soup made with milk, onions, and tomatoes, served with toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Mock Tomato Bisque

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the milk base

  1. In a boiler, scald the milk with the chopped onion and cloves.

  2. Mix the flour with cold water until smooth.

  3. Add the flour mixture to the scalded milk and cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly with the lid off.

Add the tomatoes

  1. Heat the chopped tomatoes on the stove.

  2. Remove the tomatoes from the stove.

  3. Add sugar and baking soda to the tomatoes.

  4. Gradually add the tomato mixture to the thickened milk.

  5. Stir in the butter, salt, and pepper.

  6. Return to the stove for a few minutes until heated through.

Serve

  1. Serve immediately with a half slice of toast.

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.

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.

  1. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the creamy base of the bisque and gives it a smooth, rich body.
Flour
Thickens the milk as it cooks, giving the bisque body and a velvety texture.
Tomatoes
Provide the main tomato flavor and acidity that define the bisque.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother mouthfeel and rounder flavor.
Baking soda
Neutralizes tomato acidity, reducing sharpness and preventing curdling of the milk.

The step that matters

Gradually add the tomato mixture to the thickened milk. Tomatoes are acidic and milk proteins can curdle when exposed to acid or sudden temperature changes. Adding the tomatoes slowly, after the baking soda has neutralized some acidity, helps keep the bisque smooth.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, clove, flour, tomato, sugar, 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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