Why it works: Peas and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,016 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Green Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the soup
Wash the lamb in cold water and place it in a soup pot with 6 quarts of cold water.
Add 2 tablespoons of coarse sea salt and bring to a gentle boil over moderate heat for 2 hours.
Skim the surface to remove impurities, then add 1 quart of shelled peas and 1 teaspoon of black pepper.
Cover and boil for 30 minutes.
Scrape the skins from 1 quart of small young potatoes and add them to the soup.
Cover and boil for an additional 30 minutes.
In a bowl, work together ½ pound of butter and 2 teaspoons of flour until smooth.
Add this mixture to the soup 10-12 minutes before removing it from the heat.
Serve
Serve the lamb on a dish with parsley sauce and the soup in a tureen.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Peas + potatotop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,016 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lamb + potatotop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together520 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,165 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Shelled peas
- Provide the main green flavour and body of the soup.
- Small young potatoes
- Soften during long simmering and thicken the soup slightly as they break down.
- Butter and flour
- Work together into a paste that thickens the soup and adds richness when stirred in.
- Lamb
- Releases meat flavour and fat into the broth during long gentle simmering.
The step that matters
Adding the butter and flour mixture. Stirring the flour and butter paste into hot soup at the end can clump if not whisked smooth first. Adding it late and simmering briefly lets the starch thicken the broth evenly without raw flour taste.
Flavor stand-ins for the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, peas, pepper, butter, flour):
- Asparagusabout as good a flavor fit
- Shallotabout as good a flavor fit
- Spinachabout as good a flavor fit
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, peas, pepper, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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