Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,232 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the tomato juice in a saucepan.
Add the bread and butter, stirring until the bread is soft.
Blend the mixture until smooth.
Stir in the cream and season with salt.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Bread + creamtop 24% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together5,789 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomato juice
- Provides the liquid base and the main tomato flavour of the soup.
- Bread
- Softens as it cooks and thickens the soup when blended, giving it body.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer, rounder mouthfeel and smooth texture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a silkier texture, softening the tomato's acidity.
The step that matters
Stirring the bread until soft. The bread must fully soften before blending; if it stays firm, the soup will be grainy and thickened unevenly. Gentle heat and stirring help the starch hydrate and break down evenly.
“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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