Name: Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients: 60 g mushrooms , sliced; 10 g butter; 10 g flour; 15 g diced onion; 2 bay leaves; 180 ml milk or white stock; Seasoning to taste; 20 ml cream; Mushrooms, cut Brunoise , for garnish; Parsley

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,626 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mushrooms: Provide the main flavour and, once puréed, the body of the soup.
Butter: Carries the aromatics and gives a rich, smooth flavour to the roux.
Flour: Thickens the soup as a roux with the butter.
Milk or white stock: Forms the liquid base that the roux thickens into a smooth soup.
Cream: Adds richness and a silkier texture at the end.

The step that matters

Make the roux without browning. Cooking the flour and butter gently keeps the roux pale and neutral in flavour; browning adds colour and nutty notes that change the soup's intended taste and appearance. Adding the liquid gradually into the roux prevents lumps.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, butter, flour, onion, milk, cream):

Garlicfits better
Nutmegfits better
Thymefits better
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, butter, flour, onion, milk, cream. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1

Cream of Mushroom Soup