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Mushroom Soup

A creamy soup made with beef extract, water, flour, butter, mushrooms, and cream, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Mushroom Soup

Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup base

  1. In a pot, combine beef extract and water.

  2. Stir in flour and melted butter, then let simmer.

  3. Add sliced mushrooms along with their liquid and heat through.

Finish and serve

  1. In a double boiler, heat the cream.

  2. Just before serving, combine the soup and cream, then season to taste.

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. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 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

Beef extract
Provides the savory, meaty flavor that forms the base of the soup.
Flour
Thickens the liquid as it simmers, giving the soup body.
Melted butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and smoothing the texture.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy flavor and tender pieces to the soup.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Combining the soup and cream just before serving. Cream can split or curdle when it is overheated or shocked by a very hot liquid. Heating it gently in a double boiler and adding it at the end keeps the soup smooth and creamy.

“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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