Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cream of Tomato Soup with Milk
Ingredients
Directions
Make the tomato base
Cook the chopped tomatoes in 5 gallons of water with sugar and pepper until boiling.
Add the baking soda and cook for 10 minutes.
Heat the milk
Heat the milk to 200°F (93°C) for 10 minutes in a separate kettle.
Add butter to the heated milk.
Combine and can
Combine the tomato mixture with the heated milk and bring to a slow boil.
Add the flour paste and cook for 5 minutes.
Fill into cans and exhaust for 3 minutes.
Process at 245°F (118°C) for the appropriate time based on can size.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter and flour 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
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body, acidity and flavour of the soup.
- Fresh milk
- Adds creaminess and a rich, smooth texture to the soup.
- Baking soda
- Raises the pH, which softens the tomatoes and mellows their acidity.
- Flour paste
- Thickens the soup so it stays smooth and does not separate.
- Granulated sugar
- Balances the acidity of the tomatoes and adds sweetness.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda to the tomatoes. Baking soda neutralises acid and can cause the tomatoes to foam and change colour if added in excess. Adding it at the right point and cooking it through keeps the base stable before the milk goes in. Milk combined with acidic tomatoes can curdle, so the tomato base must be stable first.
“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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