Why it works: Celery and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Fry the onion in a small amount of oil until brown.
Combine peas, cold water, salt pork, coarse sea salt, celery seed, and fried onion in a pot.
Cover and boil for 4 to 5 hours.
Serve
Rub the mixture through a colander to serve.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + celerytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,460 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + porktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,589 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Peas
- Their starch and fibre break down during long cooking, thickening the soup and giving it body.
- Salt pork
- Renders fat and savoury flavour into the broth as it cooks.
- Onion
- Browning in oil builds sweetness and savoury aroma that carry into the soup.
The step that matters
Cover and boil for 4 to 5 hours. Long boiling breaks down the peas' starch and fibre so they thicken the liquid when rubbed through. Keeping the pot covered limits evaporation, and enough liquid must stay in the pot to prevent scorching over such a long cook.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, celery, onion):
- Beansfits better
- Sesamefits better
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, celery, onion. 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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