Name: Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients: ¼ pound mushrooms, chopped; salt and pepper to taste; 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 cup cream; 2 cups milk; 1 quart rich stock (beef and veal bones, carrots, onions, and celery)

Why it works: Mushroom and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Strain the stock and wash the mushrooms.

Make the soup

Chop the mushrooms and add them to boiling stock; cook for 15 minutes.
In a saucepan, melt the butter, then add the flour and stir until it bubbles.
Gradually add the cream, milk, and mushroom mixture; cook until thickened.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Mushroom + beeftop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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).
Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 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

Mushrooms: Provide the main earthy flavor and body of the soup.
Butter: Forms the fat base for the roux, adding richness and flavor.
Flour: Thickens the soup as a roux with the butter.
Cream: Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture.
Milk: Thins the soup and adds creaminess while keeping it lighter than cream alone.
Rich stock: Supplies the liquid base and savory depth for the soup.

The step that matters

Adding the cream and milk to the roux. Adding liquid to the roux gradually, while stirring, keeps the flour dispersed so the soup thickens smoothly without lumps.

“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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Cream of Mushroom Soup