Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,377 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Stew the tomatoes slowly for 15 minutes.
Strain the tomatoes and add baking soda while hot.
Make the white sauce
Make a white sauce by melting the butter, then adding flour and salt.
Gradually add the scalded milk to the butter mixture and cook until thick as cream.
Combine and serve
Combine the white sauce with the strained tomatoes 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 + celerytop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Canned tomatoes
- Provide the main body and tangy flavor of the soup.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some of the tomato's acidity, mellowing the flavor and reducing sharpness.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth white sauce that gives the soup body.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base of the white sauce, adding richness and smoothness.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and forms the roux with the flour.
The step that matters
Adding baking soda to the hot tomatoes. Baking soda reacts with tomato acid and releases carbon dioxide, causing foaming. Adding too much can make the soup taste soapy or bitter, so the amount should be controlled.
Flavor stand-ins for the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, flour, milk, pepper, butter):
- Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
- Cardamomabout as good a flavor fit
- Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, flour, milk, pepper, butter. 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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