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Peas Pudding

A savory pudding made from split peas, butter, egg, salt, and pepper, boiled and bound together.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,331 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Peas Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Soak the split peas in cold water overnight.

  2. Discard any that float.

  3. Drain the peas and tie them loosely in a cloth to allow for swelling.

Cook and shape

  1. Place the tied peas in a saucepan of boiling water and boil for 2 hours.

  2. Remove the peas from the cloth and mash or pass them through a wire sieve using the back of a spoon.

  3. Mix in the butter, salt, pepper, and beaten egg to bind the mixture.

  4. Flour the cloth in the middle, tie the pudding tightly in it, and place it in boiling water.

  5. Boil again for 30 minutes and serve on a separate dish.

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. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  2. Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Peas + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Split peas
Form the main body of the pudding, becoming soft and thick when cooked and mashed.
Butter
Adds richness and a smoother, softer texture to the mashed peas.
Beaten egg
Binds the mashed peas together so the pudding holds its shape.

The step that matters

Tying the cloth tightly. The peas must be pressed into a firm, compact shape inside the cloth, or the pudding can fall apart or boil loose in the water. Flouring the cloth helps form a skin that keeps the pudding together.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Walnutfits about as well
  2. Almondfits about as well
  3. Peasthe original
  4. Pecansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, egg. 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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