Why it works: Parsley and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,843 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Soup, Chantilly
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the soup
Boil the peas with the parsley and onions until tender.
Rub the mixture through a sieve.
Pour the stock into the pea mixture.
Do not let it boil after adding the peas to preserve the color.
Serve
Serve very hot.
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.
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Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Peas + parsleytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,885 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,460 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
- Young green peas
- Form the main body of the soup and give it its sweet, vegetal flavor and smooth texture once sieved.
- Medium stock
- Provides the liquid base that carries the flavor and sets the soup's overall body.
- Young onions
- Add savory aroma and depth as they soften while boiling with the peas.
- Parsley
- Adds a fresh, herbal aroma that brightens the soup's flavor.
The step that matters
Do not let it boil after adding the peas. Prolonged boiling breaks down the chlorophyll in green vegetables, which dulls their bright green color. Keeping the soup below a boil preserves the color.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, onion):
- Chickpeafits better
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Lentilsfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, 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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