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 ↓
Sifted Peas
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak Scotch peas overnight.
In the morning, discard poor peas and wash them.
Cook and strain
Boil peas in soft water for 30 minutes to remove skins.
Skim off the skins as they rise to the top.
When tender, strain peas through a colander.
Season and bake
Season with coarse sea salt and nut butter to taste.
Bake in the oven until hot.
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
- Scotch peas
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming soft and tender when simmered.
- Nut butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the peas a creamier texture and mellow flavour.
The step that matters
Skimming the skins as they rise. Skins floating on the surface will cloud the cooking liquid and can end up in the finished dish if left behind. Removing them as they form keeps the peas clean-tasting and the texture smooth.
“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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