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Peas Soup, to Flavour

A powdered herb seasoning for peas soup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 331 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Peas Soup, to Flavour

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Pound the dried sage, dried mint, celery seed, cayenne pepper, and allspice together in a mortar until reduced to a powder.

  2. Transfer the powder to a perfectly dry bottle.

  3. Cork the bottle securely and store until needed.

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. Sage + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together331 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Sage + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together723 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried sage
Provides the dominant savory, earthy aroma that defines the blend.
Dried mint
Adds a cool, aromatic note that lifts the savory herbs.
Celery seed
Contributes a warm, savory aroma that rounds out the herbs.
Cayenne pepper
Adds a sharp heat that gives the blend a noticeable kick.

The step that matters

Transfer to a perfectly dry bottle. Moisture makes powdered herbs clump and can encourage mould, while dried spices keep their aroma best when sealed dry and airtight.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sage, celery, pepper, allspice):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sage, celery, pepper, allspice. 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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