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 ↓
Cream Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the stock
Remove the fat from the jelly-soup stock.
Add 1 pint of boiling water and simmer for 30 minutes.
Strain the soup, season, and skim until clear.
Make the cream and combine
In another pot, heat 1 pint of milk.
Stir in 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 tablespoon of corn-starch mixed with cold milk, and a little nutmeg.
Pour this mixture over 2 beaten eggs and cook for 1 minute.
Combine with the boiling soup and stir well.
Optionally, add a pinch of baking soda to the milk before boiling.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together563 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pepper + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Coagulate when cooked, thickening and enriching the cream mixture.
- Corn-starch
- Thickens the milk mixture as it heats, giving the soup body.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base that gives the soup its smooth, rich texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Pour the milk mixture over the eggs and combine with the soup. Adding hot liquid to beaten eggs too quickly can scramble them. Pouring gradually while stirring, and cooking gently, keeps the custard smooth before it joins the soup.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, milk, butter, corn, egg):
- Nutmegthe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Tarragonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, milk, butter, corn, egg. 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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