Why it works: Celery and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Fry the onion in a pan until brown.
Make the soup
In a pot, combine peas, cold water, salt pork, salt, celery seed, and the fried onion.
Cover and boil for 4 to 5 hours.
Rub the mixture through a colander to achieve a smooth consistency.
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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + celerytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,460 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + porktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,589 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
- Long simmering breaks them down, thickening the soup and giving it body.
- Salt pork
- Renders fat and savoury flavour into the cooking liquid as it simmers.
- Onion
- Frying until brown adds sweetness and deeper savoury flavour to the soup.
The step that matters
Boiling for 4 to 5 hours. The long simmer must be kept going until the peas are fully soft, because undercooked peas stay grainy and will not purée smoothly when rubbed through a colander.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, celery, onion):
- Beansfits better
- Sesamefits better
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, celery, onion. 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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