Why it works: Peas and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,016 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Green Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Place the lamb in a soup pot with 6 quarts of cold water and 2 tablespoons of coarse sea salt.
Bring to a gentle boil over moderate heat and simmer for 2 hours, skimming off any foam.
Add the vegetables
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 the pot and boil for an additional 30 minutes.
Finish and serve
In a bowl, work together ¼ pound of butter and 2 teaspoons of flour, then stir into the soup 10-12 minutes before serving.
Serve the meat 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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Peas + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,016 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lamb + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together520 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,165 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they 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
- Lamb
- Gives the broth its rich, meaty flavor as it simmers for a long time.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the finished soup.
- All-purpose flour
- Worked with butter and stirred in at the end, it thickens the soup slightly.
- Shelled peas
- Break down partly as they cook, adding body and sweet green flavor to the soup.
- Potatoes
- Soften as they boil, adding starch that gives the soup more body.
The step that matters
Stirring in the butter and flour mixture. Flour added directly to hot liquid clumps; kneading it into butter first coats the particles so they disperse smoothly. Stirring in only the last minutes keeps the thickened soup from over-thickening or going pasty.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, pepper, potato, butter, flour):
- Almondfits better
- Beansfits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, potato, butter, flour. 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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