Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the tomatoes
Boil the water and canned tomatoes with salt for one hour.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.
Finish and serve
Stir in baking soda, butter, sweet milk, crushed crackers, and pepper.
Bring the mixture to a boil and serve.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,226 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Canned tomatoes
- Provide the main body and flavor of the soup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the soup.
- Sweet milk
- Adds creaminess and mellows the sharpness of the tomatoes.
- Crushed crackers
- Thicken the soup and give it body as they soak up liquid.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some of the tomato's acidity, softening the flavor.
The step that matters
Bringing the mixture to a boil after adding the milk. Tomatoes are acidic, and boiling them with milk can cause the milk to curdle or separate. Heat should be raised carefully, and the soup should not be left to boil hard once the milk is in.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, pepper):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatothe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, pepper. 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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