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 ↓
How We Cook in Tennessee
Ingredients
Directions
Make the tomato base
Combine one can of tomatoes or one quart of fresh tomatoes, one quart of boiling water, and two onions.
Boil for one hour.
Rub one tablespoonful of butter and two tablespoons of flour together and stir in just before taking from the fire.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Strain and serve.
Make the thickened soup
Put one can of tomatoes, a pint of water, a slice of onion, a bay leaf, a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, and a saltspoonful of mace in a sauce pan over the fire.
Cook for fifteen minutes.
Add two level tablespoonfuls of butter rubbed to a paste with four level tablespoonfuls of flour.
Stir until boiling.
Strain through a sieve, reheat and serve with croutons.
To make croutons, butter slices of bread and cut them into dice.
Put these in a pan in the oven; watch them carefully until they are a golden brown.
Make the milk soup and serve
Combine one quart of tomatoes and one quart of milk.
Cook the tomatoes some.
Run the tomatoes through a sifter.
Put the tomatoes back on the stove.
Add a pinch of soda, salt, and pepper to taste, and pour into the tureen.
In a sauce pan put a large tablespoon of butter.
When melted add two tablespoons of flour and beat smooth.
Add a quart of milk and one-half dozen stalks of celery cut into squares.
When thick, pour into the tureen, stirring the tomatoes until well mixed.
Serve immediately.
Combine one quart can of tomatoes, one quart new milk, one tablespoonful flour, and one heaping tablespoon butter rubbed together.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Rub tomatoes through a fine colander and put in a porcelain sauce pan with a pinch of soda.
Stew for half-hour.
Scald milk in another vessel; add flour and butter and stir together until well thickened.
When ready to serve, mix with the tomatoes, bring to a sharp boil and serve immediately, adding one spoonful of whipped cream to each bowl.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 10 of 13 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
| 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 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Tomato | 1 medium (123g) | 22 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Mace | not in our table | 0 |
| Soup | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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 pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 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 main body, acidity and flavour of the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup as it cooks with the butter, giving body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, and carries the flour into a smooth roux.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and mellows the tomato acidity in the milk soup.
- Onions
- Add savoury aroma to the tomato base as it simmers.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour and butter into the boiling soup. Lumps form if flour is added to liquid unevenly or not stirred well. Blending the butter and flour into a paste first, then stirring until boiling, lets the starch swell smoothly and thicken the soup evenly.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, butter, milk, flour, cream, onion, pepper):
- Garlicfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, butter, milk, flour, cream, onion, 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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