Why it works: Lettuce and milk work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and 410 recipes mention both. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the lettuce
Wash and drain the lettuce, then chop it finely with the onion.
Make the soup
In a saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add the chopped lettuce and onion. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the rice and milk, then bring to a boil. Cook for 20 minutes until the rice is tender.
Remove from heat and press the mixture through a puree sieve using a potato masher, then strain through a fine sieve for smoothness.
Season with salt, cayenne pepper, and sugar.
In a fresh saucepan, rub together the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and cornstarch, then stir into the soup.
Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and stir in the whipped cream.
Serve
Serve with or without fried croutons.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Lettuce + milktop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together410 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Butter + milktop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,354 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Onion + ricetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,990 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lettuce
- Forms the bulk of the soup and gives it its green flavour and body when puréed.
- Butter
- Softens the lettuce and onion and adds richness to the finished soup.
- Rice
- Thickens the soup as it cooks and helps give it a smooth, body-rich texture.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and creaminess of the soup.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the soup to a smoother, more velvety consistency.
- Whipped cream
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel when stirred in off the heat.
The step that matters
Adding the whipped cream. Whipped cream should be stirred in after the soup comes off the heat. Overheating it can cause the cream to separate or lose its airy texture, and it thins the finished soup's silkiness.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lettuce, butter, rice, milk, pepper, sugar, cream):
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Asparagusbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lettuce, butter, rice, milk, pepper, sugar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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