Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Macaroni Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the macaroni until tender.
In a separate pot, combine the tomatoes, cheese, red pepper, and salt.
Add the cooked macaroni to the tomato mixture.
Simmer for 30 minutes before serving.
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.
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + cheesetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,896 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,861 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
- Tomatoes
- Provide the liquid base and acidic, savory body of the soup.
- Cheese
- Melts into the tomato base to add richness and savory flavor.
- Macaroni
- Adds starch and bulk, absorbing some of the broth as it sits.
The step that matters
Simmer for 30 minutes before serving. Long simmering lets the macaroni soften further and absorb liquid, so the soup thickens. Pasta left too long can turn mushy, so timing matters.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits about as well
- Tomatothe original
- Spinachfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, 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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