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Tomato Soup

A simple tomato soup made with tomatoes, onion, water, sugar, peppercorns, butter, cloves, bay leaf, flour, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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

Make the soup

  1. In a pot, combine the tomatoes, onion, water, sugar, peppercorns, butter, cloves, and bay leaf.

  2. Cook for 20 minutes.

  3. Press the mixture through a strainer to remove solids.

Thicken and finish

  1. Return the liquid to the pot and stir in the flour to thicken.

  2. Simmer until creamy.

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. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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 and acidity of the soup.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the soup.
Flour
Thickens the strained liquid so it becomes creamy when simmered.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with sweetness.

The step that matters

Stirring in the flour. Flour added to hot liquid can clump if not whisked in well. Whisking it smoothly before or while simmering lets the starch disperse and hydrate evenly, giving a smooth, thickened soup.

Flavor stand-ins for the clove

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

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

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