Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Green Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the soup
In a pot, cook the onion, peas, and chicken stock together for 20 minutes.
Remove the onion and strain the peas and stock through a sieve.
Return the soup to the pot and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Thicken and finish
In a bowl, mix the butter and flour to a cream, then gradually add ½ cup of the soup.
Pour this mixture back into the pot, add salt, pepper, and cream, and boil for 3 minutes.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,814 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,460 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Peas
- Form the main body and flavour of the soup.
- Butter and flour
- Form a roux that thickens the soup as it is stirred in.
- Cream or milk
- Adds richness and a smoother, softer texture to the soup.
- Chicken stock
- Provides the liquid base and savoury flavour of the soup.
The step that matters
Adding the butter and flour mixture to the soup. Flour clumps if it is added directly to hot liquid. Blending it smoothly with butter and gradually adding soup thins the mixture first, so it thickens evenly when returned to the pot.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, cream, butter, flour, onion, pepper):
- Cashew nutfits better
- Sesamefits better
- Beansfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cream, butter, flour, onion, pepper. 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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