Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Tomato Soup with Milk
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the tomatoes finely and place them in a pot with 1 quart of water.
Bring to a boil.
Make the soup
Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in a little water.
Boil for 45 minutes.
Stir in 1 pint of milk, pepper, salt, and butter.
Thicken and serve
Once it boils again, thicken with cracker dust. 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.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned 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
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body and tangy flavour of the soup.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the acidic tomato flavour.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some tomato acidity, which helps keep the milk from curdling.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
- Cracker dust
- Its starch thickens the liquid as it heats.
The step that matters
Adding the milk. Stir the milk in only after the tomato base has been neutralised with baking soda. Acid combined with heat can cause milk proteins to curdle, so watch the pot closely once the milk is in.
“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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