Why it works: Peas and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,887 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Pease Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Soak the split peas overnight.
Put the soaked peas into an earthen dish and cover with hot water.
Add the butter and coarse sea salt.
Cook
Cook for 5 hours in a 300°F (150°C) oven.
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.
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Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 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
- Split peas
- Form the main body of the dish, softening into a thick, spoonable purée when cooked.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more rounded mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Cook for 5 hours in a 300°F (150°C) oven. Dried split peas need a long, gentle cook to soften fully and break down. Cutting the time short leaves them firm and grainy, while slow heat helps them become smooth without scorching.
“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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