Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Swiss White Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Stock for 6 persons Beat up 3 eggs
2 spoonfuls flour 1 cupful milk
Pour this slowly through a seive into the boiling soup, add salt and pepper. Anonymous.
DUMPLINGS.
Vz teaspoonful salt tartar
1 teaspoonful sugar 1 cupful sweet milk
Mix the dry ingredients together and put through the seive, add milk and mix quickly, roll 1/2 inch thick and boil 10 minutes. Mrs. Ware.
OYSTERS AND FISH,
" Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the seas.^^ " Why, as men do a-land, the great ones eat up the little ones.'^
FISH BALLS,
1 cupful salt cod 1/^ tablespoonful butter
Vs teaspoonful pepper Pick the codfish into small pieces, pare potatoes and cut into smallish pieces; boil together in w^ater enough to cover till the potatoes are done. Drain well and nijish thoroughly. Add beaten egg, melted butter, pepper and a little salt, if needed. Shape into balls, roll in flour and fry in smoking hot fat till a nice brown. Drain on paper. C. S.
To fry fish without breaking, use a large quantity of fat and have it smoking hot. Roll the fish in corn meal and fry brown, turn and fry the other side brown. The fish will be thoroughly done and will not crumble. Salt to taste. Mrs. B. Rogers.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 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 |
| Salmon | 100g cooked | 208 |
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Soup | not in our table | 0 |
| Codfish | 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.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, pepper, flour, cream, butter):
- Potatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg, pepper, flour, cream, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipes
Potato Chips53 recipes
Sweet Potato Croquettes53 recipes