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 ↓
Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Scald the milk in a double boiler.
Melt the butter, then stir in the flour, salt, and pepper.
Add this mixture to the hot milk and cook for ten minutes.
Stir in the beaten yolks and cream, cooking for an additional five minutes.
Prepare and add the mushrooms
Peel the mushrooms, remove the stems, and break them into small pieces.
Place the mushrooms in a saucepan with just enough hot water to prevent sticking and cook for five minutes.
Chop the mushrooms finely and add them to the cream soup.
Serve
Serve immediately.
Optionally, the eggs can be omitted or slightly beaten and added a few minutes before serving.
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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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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + mushroomtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,231 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the soup and gives it a creamy body when heated.
- Butter and flour
- Melted butter cooked with flour makes a roux that thickens the soup.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat, giving the soup a smooth, velvety texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the soup as they set gently with heat, adding richness.
- Fresh mushrooms
- Provide the main earthy flavor and substance of the soup.
The step that matters
Stir in the beaten yolks and cream gently over heat. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if the soup is too hot or boiled, leaving a grainy texture. Keeping the heat moderate lets them thicken the soup smoothly.
“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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