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Cream of Pea Soup

A soup made from peas, milk, cream, flour, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cream of Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the peas

  1. Add 1 can peas, 1 pint milk, 1 cup cream, 1 cup milk, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon butter.

  3. Drain peas from liquid.

  4. Cook peas until tender and rub through a sieve.

Thicken and combine

  1. Scald and thicken milk with flour.

  2. Add seasoning and combine puree with milk.

  3. Add butter.

Serve

  1. Serve at once.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

563Calories
13 gProtein
13 gFat
96 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the scalded milk, giving the soup its body.
Butter
Adds fat, giving the soup richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
Peas (in the method)
Provide the main body and flavour once cooked and pureed.
Milk (in the method)
Forms the liquid base that is thickened and combined with the puree.
Cream (in the method)
Adds fat, giving the soup a richer, silkier texture.

The step that matters

Scald and thicken milk with flour. Flour starch only thickens properly when heated while the mixture is stirred, so the milk should be stirred as the flour goes in. Adding flour unevenly or without stirring can leave lumps and a thin, uneven texture.

“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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