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Soup

Green-pea Soup

A soup made with veal knuckle, peas of various sizes, green mint, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,137 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Green-pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, add the knuckle of veal and cover with water. Bring to a simmer and remove any scum.

  2. Add the large peas to the pot as soon as the meat begins to simmer.

  3. After 45 minutes, add the medium peas.

  4. Add the small peas, chopped mint, and parsley 15 minutes before serving.

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. Peas + minttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Mint + parsleytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,198 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Peas + parsleytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,885 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Veal + parsleytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,766 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Veal + peastop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together644 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Knuckle of veal
Releases gelatin and flavour into the water, giving the soup body and savoury depth.
Peas
Provide the main body and sweet, vegetal flavour of the soup.
Green mint
Adds a bright, aromatic lift to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Adding the small peas and herbs 15 minutes before serving. Small peas and soft herbs cook quickly and lose their bright green colour and fresh flavour if held at a simmer too long. Adding them late keeps them tender, vivid and aromatic.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, peas, mint):

  1. Tarragonfits about as well
  2. Sagefits about as well
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, peas, mint. 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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