Why it works: Peas and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,137 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Green Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Boil peas in water until cooked, then retain the liquid.
In a stewpan, melt butter and sauté the chopped onion until soft.
Add flour to the onion and mix well.
Pour in the peas and their liquid.
Add Mirepoix.
Simmer for 30 minutes.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve back into the stewpan.
Add mint, sugar, and a small piece of butter.
Bring to a quick boil while stirring to prevent burning.
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.
-
Peas + minttop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,137 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,460 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Peas
- Form the body of the soup and give it its main flavour and thickness when puréed through the sieve.
- Butter
- Carries the onion's flavour and adds richness to the finished soup.
- Flour
- Cooked with the butter into a roux, it thickens the soup.
- Onion
- Softened in butter, it adds savoury sweetness and aroma as a base.
- Mirepoix
- Adds aromatic vegetable flavour that deepens the soup as it simmers.
- Sugar
- Rounds out the flavour, balancing the vegetal taste of the peas.
The step that matters
Bring to a quick boil while stirring. Flour-thickened soups scorch easily on the base of the pan, and constant stirring keeps the starch from sticking and burning, which would taint the whole batch.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, butter, flour, mint, sugar):
- Shallotbetter flavor fit
- Cucumberbetter flavor fit
- Leekbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against peas, butter, flour, mint, sugar. 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.
You might also like
Green Peas229 recipes
Green Peas Soup35 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipesThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.