Name: Green Pea and Ham Soup
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 2 pounds meaty smoked ham hocks; 1/2 medium Spanish onion, halved; 3 small celery stalks, very roughly chopped; 1/2 medium carrot, peeled, very roughly chopped; 1 head garlic, halved horizontally, not peeled; 1 fresh bay leaf, or 1/2 dried; 6 black peppercorns; 4 tablespoons unsalted butter; 1/2 small Spanish onion, finely chopped; 1 small carrot, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces; 2 teaspoons Maldon or another flaky sea salt; 1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc; Five-fingered pinch of mint leaves, plus some torn leaves for finishing; Two 10-ounce packages Birds Eye frozen baby peas; Extra virgin olive oil; Freshly ground black pepper; 3 or 4 tablespoons crème fraîche

Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

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.

Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,083 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, butter, white wine):

Parsleyfits better
Thymefits better
Marjoramfits better
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, butter, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Pea	1/2 cup (72g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0

Green Pea and Ham Soup