Name: Split Pea Soup
Ingredients: 2 smoked ham hocks, each about 3/4 lb.; 1 1/2 cups yellow or orange split peas; 2 Tbs. unsalted butter; 1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped; 1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped; 8 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock,; canned broth or water, plus more as needed; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; Coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,053 recipes mention both. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

2 smoked ham hocks, each about 3/4 lb.
1 1/2 cups yellow or orange split peas
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
8 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock,
canned broth or water, plus more as needed
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By williamssonoma. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together34,118 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Orange + carrottop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together736 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Carrot + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + chickentop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together17,808 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, onion, carrot, chicken, pepper, parsley):

Lemonbetter flavor fit
Limeabout as good a flavor fit
Grapeabout as good a flavor fit
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, onion, carrot, chicken, pepper, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

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