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Puree of Green Peas

A smooth puree made from boiled young green peas, butter, stock, salt, pepper, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Puree of Green Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the peas until tender.

  2. Pound the peas in a mortar.

  3. Press the peas through a sieve into a saucepan.

Finish and serve

  1. Add butter, salt, pepper, sugar, and stock.

  2. Stir over heat until the puree is hot.

  3. Serve piled high on a 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 + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  5. Peas + sugartop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Young green peas
Form the main body and vegetable flavour of the puree once pounded and sieved.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel and helps the puree feel silky.
Sugar
Adds a light sweetness that rounds out the flavour of the peas.
Good stock
Adds moisture and savoury depth, loosening the puree to a spoonable texture.

The step that matters

Boil the peas until tender, then reheat gently. Overcooking green vegetables, especially with heat over time, breaks down chlorophyll and turns the color dull olive. Cook only until tender and keep the final stirring over gentle heat so the puree stays bright green.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Walnutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

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