Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓
Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick over the peas, wash, and soak them overnight in cold water.
Scrape the pork clean and cut it, along with the beef, into pieces.
Drain the peas and place them with the cut meats in a pot with the water.
Cook
Cover the pot, heat gradually, and boil gently.
Remove the scum as it rises and stir frequently to prevent scorching.
When the peas are soft, remove the meats and mash the peas with a wooden masher.
Return the meats to the soup and continue boiling.
Season lightly and serve with fried bread squares on top.
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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Beef + porktop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,690 recipes
Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + porktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,589 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + beeftop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,044 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,331 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
- Break down as they cook to thicken the soup and give it body.
- Fresh lean beef
- Adds meaty flavor to the broth as it simmers with the peas.
- Salt pork
- Contributes savory fat and seasoning that enriches the broth.
The step that matters
Stir frequently and skim the scum. Peas and meat settle on the bottom of the pot and can scorch while the soup is heated, giving a burnt taste. Removing the foam as it rises keeps the broth clear and clean-flavored.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pork, pepper):
- Beansfits better
- Sesamefits better
- Soybeanfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pork, 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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