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 ↓
Tomato Bisque
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Stew the tomatoes until very soft.
Pass the tomatoes through a fine sieve or strainer.
Put the strained tomatoes into a granite-ware saucepan and add one saltspoonful of soda.
When it has ceased foaming, add the butter a small piece at a time.
Add salt, pepper, and cayenne.
Make the milk base
Put the milk into a double boiler.
Stir into it a tablespoonful of corn-starch that has been mixed with a little cold milk to make it smooth.
Let it scald for ten minutes, or long enough to cook the corn-starch.
Combine and serve
Pour the milk into the tomatoes.
Beat well together.
Serve at once.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 8 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 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Cayenne | 1 tsp (1.8g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they 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 (in the method)
- Form the bisque's main body and its tart, rich tomato flavour.
- Milk
- Makes the bisque smooth and creamy, diluting the tomato acidity.
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the milk as it heats, giving the bisque body.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rounder, silkier mouthfeel and richer flavour.
- Soda
- Neutralises some tomato acidity, softening the sharp tang and making the soup less sour.
The step that matters
Pour the milk into the tomatoes. Adding cold or very hot milk to acidic tomatoes can curdle or separate it. Starch-thickened milk is cooked first, then combined with the tomatoes while they are still hot, and the mixture is beaten to keep it smooth.
“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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