Why it works: Bread and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook 3 cups of peas until soft.
Mash the peas and add water to achieve desired consistency.
Serve with 10 ounces of bread and 1½ ounces of cheese. Enjoy your meal.
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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Bread + cheesetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Peas + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).
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Peas + cheesetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together313 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
- Peas
- Provide the main body, starch and mild sweetness of the soup once cooked and mashed.
- Bread
- Adds starchy bulk alongside the soup, soaking up liquid and balancing its texture.
- Cheese
- Adds fat and savory flavor that rounds out the mild, earthy taste of the peas.
The step that matters
Cook the peas until soft. Peas that are still firm will not mash smoothly, leaving a grainy texture. Cooking softens the starch and cell walls, so the peas break down easily into a uniform purée before water is added to adjust the consistency.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cheese):
- Beansfits about as well
- Lima beansfits about as well
- Peasthe original
- Walnutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, cheese. 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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