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Dried Pea Soup with Smoked Beef

A hearty soup made from dried peas, smoked beef, onions, celery, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Dried Pea Soup with Smoked Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Soak the peas overnight.

  2. Place peas in cold water.

  3. Parboil the peas.

  4. Drain the water.

  5. Pour boiling water over the peas.

Cook the soup

  1. Add chopped onion and celery (or celery seed).

  2. Boil constantly for 5 to 6 hours, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

  3. Season with pepper and salt before serving.

  4. Strain through a colander.

  5. Mash the peas.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil the smoked beef in another kettle.

  2. Add the beef to the soup ½ hour before serving.

  3. If the soup is too thick, add boiling water.

  4. Serve with small squares of toasted or fried bread.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Peas + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried peas
Their starch thickens the soup as they break down during long cooking.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it cooks, forming the savory base of the soup.
Smoked beef
Contributes smoky, savory flavor to the soup.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic background note to the soup.

The step that matters

Boiling constantly while stirring frequently. As the peas break down and thicken, they can stick and scorch on the bottom of the pot. Constant boiling with frequent stirring keeps the mixture moving and prevents burning over the long cook.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, celery, pepper, beef, bread):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Sesamefits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, celery, pepper, beef, bread. 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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