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Canned Peas

A simple dish of peas cooked from a can, seasoned with butter, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,331 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Canned Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Open the can of peas.

  2. Let the peas sit in a bowl for 1 hour before cooking to avoid a musty taste.

Cook

  1. Place a farina kettle or a saucepan within another filled with hot water on the stove.

  2. If the peas are dry, add cold water to cover them.

  3. Stew for about 25 minutes.

  4. Drain the peas.

Finish

  1. Stir in a generous lump of butter.

  2. Season with pepper and salt.

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. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  2. Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Peas
Form the bulk of the dish and soften into a tender, spoonable texture as they stew.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, rounder mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stewing gently in a water bath. Setting the pan inside a vessel of hot water keeps the heat gentle and even, so the peas cook through without scorching on the base or drying out. If they look dry, adding cold water to cover keeps them moist as they stew.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper):

  1. Walnutfits better
  2. Black-eyed peafits better
  3. Almondfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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