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Split Pea Soup

A hearty soup made with split peas, salt pork, onions, milk, and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Soak the split peas overnight, then drain.

Cook and strain

  1. Add the cold water, salt pork, and sliced onion to a pot.

  2. Simmer until the peas are very soft, then rub them through a sieve.

Finish and serve

  1. Cream together butter and flour, then add to the pea mixture.

  2. Stir in the salt, pepper, and milk.

  3. Reheat the soup and serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Peas + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,016 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Split peas
Provide the main body and thickening once softened and strained.
Butter and flour
Form a creamed roux that thickens and enriches the soup.
Milk
Adds richness and softens the flavor of the soup.
Salt pork
Contributes savory, smoky fat flavor to the broth.

The step that matters

Rubbing the peas through a sieve. The peas must be simmered until very soft so they break down easily. Undercooked peas stay grainy and will not pass smoothly through the sieve, leaving a coarse texture.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, onion, pork, butter, flour, pepper, potato):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Peanutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, onion, pork, butter, flour, pepper, potato. 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.

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