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 Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat.
Add the flour and stir until well combined.
Pour in the stock and milk, stirring continuously.
Season and finish
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add the chopped mushrooms and heat through.
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 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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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Mushroom + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,231 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they 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
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and carries the flavor of the soup.
- Flour
- Thickens the soup as its starch swells in the hot butter and liquid.
- White stock
- Provides the savory liquid base that the soup is built on.
- Sweet milk
- Adds creaminess and a smooth, rounded body to the soup.
- Canned mushrooms
- Supply the main earthy flavor and soft, meaty texture.
The step that matters
Adding the stock and milk. Pour the liquid in gradually while stirring constantly. Flour starch needs to disperse evenly in the hot fat and liquid so it swells smoothly instead of clumping into lumps.
“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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