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Split Pea Soup

A hearty soup made with split peas, salt pork, beef bone, onion, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and beef 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 ↓

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the split peas in warm water overnight.

  2. Combine the soaked peas, salt pork, beef bone, and cold water in a pot.

  3. Add the chopped onion, salt, and pepper.

Cook and puree

  1. Strain the mixture through a colander.

  2. Rub the peas to create a thick puree.

  3. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve

  1. Pour into a tureen and add the sliced lemon before serving.

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. Pork + beeftop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,690 recipes

    Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 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 during cooking to thicken the soup and give it body.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that carries through the broth.
Beef bone
Contributes savory depth to the broth as it simmers.
Onion
Adds aroma and mild sweetness as it cooks into the base.
Lemon
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, earthy soup.

The step that matters

Rub the peas to create a thick puree. Split peas soften and release starch as they cook, which thickens the soup. Pressing them fully through the strainer breaks them down completely, giving a smooth, thick texture rather than a grainy one.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, pork, beef, onion, pepper):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits about as well
  3. Mangofits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, pork, beef, 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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