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Split Pea Soup

A hearty soup made with split peas, salt pork, onion, cream, and thyme.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,585 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the split peas overnight in 2 gallons of water.

  2. In the morning, add the salt pork and bring to a slow boil, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

  3. Fry the chopped onion until golden brown.

Cook and serve

  1. Add the fried onion, cream, thyme, salt, and pepper to the soup.

  2. Simmer until the peas are tender and the soup is thick.

  3. Serve hot.

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.

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.

  1. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Peas + thymetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together575 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Split peas
Provide the main body and thickening that make the soup thick as it cooks.
Salt pork
Adds savory fat and salty flavor to the broth as it simmers.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the finished soup.
Onion
Fried until golden brown, it adds sweetness and toasted aroma to the soup.

The step that matters

Stirring while bringing the soup to a boil. Split peas and starches settle and scorch on the bottom of the pot easily. Frequent stirring keeps them suspended and prevents burning, which would leave a bitter, off flavor throughout the soup.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, cream, thyme, onion, pepper):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Black-eyed peafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, cream, thyme, onion, 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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