Name: Old Peas Soup
Ingredients: 1 pound chuck beef, cut into pieces; 1 pound knuckles of ham; 1 pound veal; ½ pound pickled pork, cut into square pieces; 2 peeled turnips, sliced; 2 leeks, sliced; 2 onions, sliced; 2 carrots, sliced; 2 stalks celery, sliced; 1 cup old split peas; water, as needed; a small bunch of dried mint; pepper, to taste; coarse sea salt, to taste; bread, cut into dice and fried

Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

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.

Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,046 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Beef + porktop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,690 recipes

Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
Leek + carrottop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,310 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Leek + oniontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,326 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Split peas: Break down during cooking to thicken the soup and give it body.
Chuck beef: Releases savory flavor and gelatin into the broth, adding body and richness.
Ham knuckles: Contribute smoky, salty flavor and gelatin that enriches the broth.
Leeks: Add mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the base.
Turnips: Add mild sweetness and earthy flavor to the soup.

The step that matters

Rubbing the soup through a fine sieve until thickened. Pushing the cooked peas and vegetables through a fine sieve breaks them into a smooth purée that thickens the liquid. Sieving too little leaves the soup grainy and thin, while over-pressing can push through bitter skins and make it gummy.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, veal, pork, turnip, leek, onion):

Chivefits about as well
Carrotthe original
Potatofits about as well
Shallotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, veal, pork, turnip, leek, 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.