Why it works: Tomato and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,099 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Stew the can of tomatoes for 15 minutes.
Add the baking soda to the tomatoes and stir well.
Rinse the mixture through a colander.
Make the milk base
Boil the quart of milk.
Mix the corn starch with a little cold milk, then stir it into the boiling milk and cook for 10 minutes.
Combine and serve
Add the butter to the milk, then combine with the tomatoes.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.
Let boil and serve immediately.
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 + corntop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,099 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy liquid base of the soup.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk as it cooks, giving the soup body.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some of the tomato's acidity, reducing sharpness and softening the flavor.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Stirring the corn starch into the boiling milk. Starch must be dispersed in cold liquid first, then added to hot liquid while stirring constantly. Adding dry starch directly to hot milk causes lumps, and the starch only thickens fully once the mixture reaches a boil and cooks for several minutes.
“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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