Name: Pea Soup
Ingredients: 2 cups peas; 4 cups cold water; 4 ounces salt pork, cut into strips; 1 onion, chopped; 2 teaspoons celery seed; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt

Why it works: Onion and celery 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

Prepare

Measure and wash the peas.
Add the cold water to the peas and heat.
Fry the salt pork with the chopped onion.

Cook and strain

Add the onion and pork to the soup.
Stir in the celery seed and salt.
Cover and boil for 4 to 5 hours.
Once soft, rub the mixture through a colander.

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.

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.

Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,214 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Peas + celerytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,832 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,460 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Peas + porktop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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: Break down during long cooking to form the body and thickness of the soup.
Salt pork: Adds fat and savory depth as it renders into the soup.
Onion: Adds aroma and mild sweetness as it softens in the fat.
Celery seed: Adds a warm, earthy aroma that flavors the soup.

The step that matters

Cook the peas until fully soft before straining. Peas need a long, gentle simmer to become fully tender. Only soft peas break down into a smooth purée that passes through a colander, and undercooked peas stay grainy and hold the soup back from its full thickness.