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
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Heat the milk in a pot and season with pepper, salt, and butter.
Heat the can of tomatoes separately.
Add a pinch of baking soda to the tomatoes just before mixing.
Combine and serve
Combine the tomatoes with the milk and bring to a boil.
Serve immediately.
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 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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Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Milk + tomatotop 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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Butter + tomatotop 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
- Milk
- Forms the creamy liquid base that gives the soup its body and richness.
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main flavor and the acidity that defines the soup.
- Baking soda
- Neutralizes some of the tomato's acidity, which helps keep the milk from curdling.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smoother mouthfeel and rounder flavor.
The step that matters
Combine the tomatoes with the milk and bring to a boil. Tomatoes are acidic, and acid makes milk proteins clump and separate, especially when heated. Adding baking soda to the tomatoes first raises their pH and reduces this risk. Bringing the mixture to a boil quickly can still cause curdling, so heat should be controlled.
“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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