Why it works: Peas and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,137 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Peas Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make soup with beef, mutton, or sheep's head, strain, and set aside.
Soak dal overnight and boil until soft.
Mash dal smoothly and strain into the soup.
Fry sliced onions in ghee until brown, then pour in the soup.
Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and chopped mint leaves.
Allow to simmer briefly and serve hot with small pieces of fried toast.
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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Peas + minttop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,137 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + minttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,372 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Peas + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mint
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, peas, onion, ghee, pepper, bread):
- Garlicfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Cuminfits better
- Mintthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, peas, onion, ghee, pepper, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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