Why it works: Cabbage and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 622 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Peas, Green, Stewed
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Shell the peas and place them in a bowl with cold water and 2 ounces of butter.
Work the peas with your fingers to make them stick together.
Drain the peas in a colander.
In a saucepan, combine the peas, onions, lettuce, parsley, sugar, and salt.
Stew
Cover and stew gently over low heat for about 30 minutes.
If the mixture does not yield enough water, add 1 tablespoon of water.
Shake the saucepan occasionally to ensure even cooking.
Thicken and serve
Mix 2 ounces of butter with 1 dessert spoon of flour until smooth.
When the peas are tender, add this mixture to the saucepan.
Shake over the heat for 3-4 minutes until the butter melts.
Serve immediately.
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.
-
Cabbage + lettucetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together622 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,483 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,293 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
-
Onion + cabbagetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,001 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,562 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
- Peas
- Form the body of the dish and give it its main texture and flavour.
- Butter
- Adds richness and, blended with flour, helps thicken the liquid into a smooth sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid with the butter so the stew becomes smooth rather than watery.
- Cabbage lettuce
- Adds bulk and moisture that cooks down into the stew, softening into the peas.
- Young onions
- Contribute savoury, mild aromatic flavour as they soften during stewing.
The step that matters
Adding the butter and flour mixture. Flour must be fully blended into the butter before it goes in, otherwise it clumps. Stirring or shaking the mixture over heat lets the starch swell evenly and thicken the liquid into a smooth sauce.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, cabbage, lettuce, parsley, sugar, flour):
- Chestnutfits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Lentilsfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, cabbage, lettuce, parsley, sugar, 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.
You might also like
Green Peas229 recipes
Red Cabbage65 recipes
Stewed Cabbage58 recipes
Baked Cabbage51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.