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 ↓
Green Peas, English Style
Ingredients
Directions
Boil water in a saucepan and add salt.
Add the peas and boil until ready to serve.
Drain the peas in a colander.
Serve the peas on a plate with melted butter.
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
- Fresh peas
- Form the main body of the dish, cooked until tender and bright green.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, coating the peas for a smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Add the peas and boil until ready to serve. Peas turn dull and mushy when overcooked, since prolonged heat breaks down their chlorophyll and softens their cell walls. Boil them briefly in well-salted water and drain promptly to keep color and texture.
“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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