Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the peas
Combine one cupful dry split peas, two quarts boiling water, and one-fourth pound salt pork.
Boil slowly for three hours.
Finish and serve
Remove and mash.
Add butter and seasoning.
Serve hot with a teaspoon of whipped cream on each plate.
Optionally add chopped parsley.
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. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Split peas
- Their starch breaks down during long simmering, thickening the liquid into a smooth, hearty soup.
- Salt pork (in the method)
- Renders fat and savory flavor into the cooking liquid, seasoning the soup as it simmers.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds richness and a rounded, silky mouthfeel to the mashed soup.
The step that matters
Boil slowly for three hours. Split peas need long, gentle cooking to soften fully and break down. A hard boil can scorch the bottom and stick, while too short a time leaves the soup grainy.
“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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