Name: Dried Pea Soup
Ingredients: 1 quart dried peas; 1 gallon cold water; 1 small ham hock; 1 medium turnip, chopped; 1 carrot, chopped; 1 large onion, chopped; 1 blade of red pepper

Why it works: Turnip and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Dried Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Soak the peas

Cover the peas with cold water and let them stand overnight.
Drain the peas and pour 1 gallon of cold water over them.

Cook

Add the ham hock, turnip, carrot, onion, and red pepper.
Cook for three hours.

Strain and serve

Press the peas through a colander or sieve into a tureen.
Pour the soup and other ingredients through a sieve over the peas.
Serve.

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.

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.

Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,585 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Peas + carrottop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,994 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried peas: Form the body of the soup as they break down during long cooking, thickening it.
Ham hock: Adds smoky, savory flavor to the cooking liquid as it simmers.
Turnip: Adds mild sweetness and earthy flavor to the soup base.
Carrot: Adds natural sweetness and color to the soup base.
Onion: Builds savory depth and aroma as it softens in the broth.

The step that matters

Press the peas through a sieve. Dried peas must cook long enough to soften fully so they pass through the sieve smoothly. Pressing them through the strainer breaks them into a smooth purée that thickens the soup. Pushing too hard or stopping early leaves a grainy or uneven texture.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, turnip, carrot, onion, pepper):

Lentilsfits better
Beansfits better
Black-eyed peafits better
Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, turnip, carrot, onion, pepper. 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.