Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Boil split peas in water until soft.
Drain peas through a colander.
Prepare the croutons
Toast the bread and cut it into small pieces.
Fry the bread pieces in a greased pan until brown.
Finish the soup
Add fried bread, butter, pepper, and salt to the soup. Stir well.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Peas + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).
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Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,331 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Split peas
- Break down when boiled to give the soup its body and thick texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the soup a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
- Bread
- Fried until brown, it adds toasty flavour and a crisp contrast to the soft soup.
The step that matters
Boiling the split peas until soft. Split peas need enough time in simmering water for their starches to fully break down; undercooked peas stay grainy and the soup will not thicken properly.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, pepper):
- Lima beansfits about as well
- Peasthe original
- Beansfits about as well
- Walnutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, pepper. 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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