Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Another Way to Prepare Green Peas
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the peas thoroughly.
In a large pot, combine the peas with the butter and drain excess moisture.
Cook
Cover the pot with a concave lid.
Heat over medium heat, tossing the peas occasionally.
Fill the hollow of the lid with cold water.
Replace the water as it warms up.
Finish the peas by adding a piece of butter mixed with a little flour.
Pack and boil
Transfer the peas into small cases, each containing 1½ pounds.
Seal the cases.
Boil them in a bain-marie for 55 minutes to 1 hour.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Peas + flourtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,837 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Fresh peas
- Form the main body of the dish, cooked gently in their own moisture.
- Fresh butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and keeping the peas moist as they cook.
- Flour
- Mixed with butter and stirred in at the end to lightly thicken the juices.
The step that matters
Replace the water in the lid as it warms up. The cold water in the lid's hollow keeps the lid cool so steam condenses and drips back onto the peas instead of escaping. If the water warms and is not replaced, the lid stops condensing steam and moisture is lost, so the peas can dry or scorch.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour):
- Almondfits better
- Macadamia nutfits better
- Cashew nutfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour. 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 green peas recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 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.