Name: Green Peas a LA Bourgeoise
Ingredients: 1 pint green peas; 2 tablespoons fresh butter; 2 tablespoons chopped parsley; 1 cup lettuce, cut into quarters; 1 teaspoon sugar; 2 egg yolks; ¼ cup cream; coarse sea salt to taste; black pepper to taste

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Green Peas a LA Bourgeoise

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the peas

Wash the green peas and place them in a stewpan with butter, parsley, lettuce, and sugar.
Cook over low heat until the liquid evaporates.
In a bowl, mix the egg yolks and cream to create a thickening.
Add the thickening to the peas and cook for a few more minutes.

Boil the peas

For boiling peas, place them in a bag and submerge in boiling water with salt and sugar.
Boil until tender, about 30 to 60 minutes, then drain immediately.

Finish

Season with butter, salt, and pepper before serving.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + lettucetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,483 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,293 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,037 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

Green peas: Form the main body of the dish and set its tender, sweet texture.
Butter: Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel as it coats the peas.
Lettuce: Softens as it cooks, adding moisture and a mild, sweet vegetable flavor.
Egg yolks: Thicken the cream mixture as they heat, giving the peas a light, coating sauce.
Cream: Adds fat and body, making the thickening smooth and rich.

The step that matters

Add the thickening to the peas. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can scramble and curdle if they get too hot. Keep the heat low and cook only a few minutes so the mixture turns creamy rather than grainy.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, lettuce, sugar, egg, cream, pepper):

Chestnutfits better
Walnutfits better
Pistachiofits better
Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, lettuce, sugar, egg, cream, 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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Green Peas a LA Bourgeoise