Why it works: Tomato and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,226 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Rub the tomatoes through a sieve to remove the seeds.
Boil the tomatoes and season them, adding the baking powder.
Make the soup
Boil the milk separately.
Combine the tomato mixture with the milk.
Serve
Pour the soup over broken crackers in a soup tureen.
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 + milktop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,226 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main flavor and body of the soup.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and a mild, rich body that softens the tomato's sharpness.
- Baking powder
- Its alkaline component reduces the tomatoes' acidity, helping keep the milk from curdling.
- Broken crackers
- Soak up the soup and add starchy body and texture.
The step that matters
Combining the tomato mixture with the milk. Tomatoes are acidic and can curdle milk when the two are combined. The baking powder added to the tomatoes helps reduce that acidity, so the soup stays smooth.
“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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