Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the tomato base
Stew ½ cup of tomatoes slowly for 15 minutes.
Strain the tomatoes and measure ½ cup.
Add baking soda to the strained tomatoes while hot.
Make the white sauce and serve
In a separate pan, make a white sauce using the flour and butter.
Combine the white sauce with the strained tomatoes.
Serve immediately.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Tomato + milktop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,226 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the white sauce so the soup becomes smooth and creamy.
- Butter
- Forms the fat base of the white sauce, adding richness and smooth texture.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some of the tomatoes' acidity, which softens their sharp flavor and can alter their color.
- Milk
- Adds liquid and creaminess to the white sauce, giving the soup its body.
The step that matters
Add baking soda to the hot strained tomatoes. Baking soda reacts with tomato acid and can release carbon dioxide, causing foaming. Adding it while the tomatoes are hot is the step where the reaction is most vigorous, so it should be added carefully and in the stated amount.
“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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