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Peas Pudding, Superlative

A boiled pea puree mixed with eggs, clarified butter, and thick cream, then steamed in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Peas Pudding, Superlative

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Soak and boil the peas until tender.

  2. Press the peas through a sieve.

  3. Season the pea puree with salt and pepper.

Make the pudding

  1. Beat the mixture thoroughly for 8 to 10 minutes.

  2. Add the beaten eggs, clarified butter, and thick cream, mixing well.

  3. Pour the mixture into a buttered mold, filling it completely.

  4. Cover the mold with a floured cloth.

Boil and serve

  1. Plunge the mold into boiling water and boil until cooked through, about 4 hours.

  2. Turn out the pudding before serving and serve with melted butter.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Dried peas
Form the main body of the pudding once cooked and pressed into a smooth puree.
Eggs
Set during boiling to bind the puree and give the pudding its firm structure.
Clarified butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing a smooth texture and flavor to the pudding.
Thick cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the texture of the set pudding.

The step that matters

Boil until cooked through. Eggs set as they heat, so the pudding must be boiled long enough to firm fully; the long gentle boil also keeps the custard-like texture smooth rather than rubbery or watery.

Swap the peas

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

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

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