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.— No. 3
Ingredients
Directions
Rub the tomatoes through a sieve and place them in a saucepan.
Bring the tomatoes to a boil, then stir in the baking soda until it stops foaming.
Add the milk and boil for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir in the finely rolled butter crackers.
Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.
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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Butter + peppertop 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 acidic flavor of the soup.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes tomato acidity and causes foaming when it reacts with the acid.
- Sweet milk
- Adds creaminess and mellows the tomato sharpness.
- Butter crackers
- Thicken the soup as they absorb liquid and soften.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda. Baking soda reacts with the tomato acid and foams vigorously. Stir it in gradually and wait until the foaming stops before adding milk, otherwise the soup may boil over and the milk may curdle.
“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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