Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Croutons for Soup
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Fry the croutons
Cut stale bread into half-inch squares.
In a frying pan, heat an inch of boiling fat.
Drop enough bread squares into the fat to cover the surface.
Fry until browned, then remove with a skimmer and drain.
Add the croutons to hot soup and serve.
Oven method (alternative)
Alternatively, butter thin slices of bread, cut into three-fourths inch squares, and place in a baking pan, buttered side up.
Brown in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Stale bread
- Its dry structure crisps and browns as moisture leaves the cubes during frying or baking.
- Fat
- Conducts heat evenly into the bread, driving off moisture and browning the surface.
- Butter
- Adds richness and promotes browning in the oven method, as its milk solids toast.
The step that matters
Drop in only enough bread to cover the surface. Adding too many squares at once cools the fat sharply, so the croutons soak up oil and turn greasy and soft instead of crisp and browned.
“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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