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Tomato Puree

A tomato soup made by simmering canned tomatoes with milk, butter, and seasonings, served with toasted bread squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Tomato Puree

Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomato Puree

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. Heat the tomatoes.

  2. Strain the tomatoes through a sieve.

  3. Remove the tomatoes from heat.

  4. Add the milk.

  5. Boil for 10 minutes.

Toast and serve

  1. Toast the bread squares.

  2. Drop the toasted bread squares into the soup just before serving.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  5. Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 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

Canned tomatoes
Form the acidic, flavourful base of the soup and give it its body.
Milk
Adds creaminess and softens the sharp tomato flavour.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
Baking soda
Neutralises some of the tomato acid, which helps keep the milk from curdling.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.
Light bread
Toasted squares add crunch that contrasts with the smooth soup.

The step that matters

Add the milk. Tomatoes are acidic, and acid can make milk curdle when the two are heated together. The tomatoes are taken off the heat before the milk goes in, and baking soda reduces the acidity, which helps keep the soup smooth.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, milk, butter, sugar, celery, bread):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, milk, butter, sugar, celery, bread. 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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