Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the tomatoes and cook until soft.
Stir in the cream and heat through without boiling.
Season with salt to taste and serve hot.
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.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Cream + tomatotop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,034 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the soup.
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main flavour and bulk of the soup as they soften.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rounded, rich mouthfeel and carries flavour.
The step that matters
Stir in the cream and heat through without boiling. Cream can curdle or separate when boiled, especially in acidic tomato mixtures. Gentle heating keeps the soup smooth and creamy.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, butter):
- Potatofits better
- Onionfits better
- Leekfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, butter. 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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