Why it works: Peas and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,887 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Peas Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Dry the split peas by the fire.
Tie the peas loosely in a cloth and soak them in warm water.
Boil the peas for 2 hours until tender.
Make and cook the pudding
Wash the peas with a little coarse sea salt and butter.
Add the egg yolk and mix until smooth.
Tie the mixture in the cloth again and boil for 1 hour.
Serve with corned beef or pork.
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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Peas + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,065 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Split peas
- Form the bulk of the pudding, softening as they boil into a thick, starchy mass.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the mashed peas so the pudding holds together and sets smooth when boiled.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a softer, smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Tying the mixture in the cloth. The cloth must be tied loosely so the pudding has room to expand as the peas swell. Too tight a bind can make the pudding dense or cause it to burst during boiling.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg):
- Pecansfits better
- Almondfits better
- Filbertfits about as well
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
More pea pudding recipes
You might also like
Green Peas229 recipes
Green Peas Soup35 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.