Why it works: Turnip and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the soup
Wash the dried peas well and place them in a large pot with 6 quarts of cold water.
Bring the water to a boil, then add the bone or bit of ham, turnip, carrot, and onion.
Simmer for 3 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
Strain and finish
Remove the bone and pass the soup through a sieve using a potato masher.
Return the soup to the pot and stir in the butter and flour mixture to prevent settling.
Cut the stale bread into half-inch square dice, brown them in the oven or fry them, and place them at the bottom of the serving bowl.
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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Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,233 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 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
- Dried peas
- Form the body of the soup, thickening it as they break down during long simmering.
- Ham bone or bit of ham
- Adds savoury, smoky flavour to the broth as it simmers.
- Butter and flour
- Enriches the soup and thickens it slightly, giving a smoother body.
- Stale bread
- Adds crisp, toasted texture as a garnish in the serving bowl.
The step that matters
Stirring during the simmer. Peas are dense and sugary near the pot bottom, so they scorch easily during the long 3-hour simmer. Regular stirring prevents burning and keeps the flavour clean.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, turnip, carrot, onion, clove, butter, flour):
- Lentilsfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Beansfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, turnip, carrot, onion, clove, butter, flour. 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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