Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Green Peas
Ingredients
Directions
Shell and wash the peas.
Cook the peas in enough hot water to cover them for 20 minutes.
When nearly done, add salt and drain the peas.
Season with butter and add cream if desired.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Peas + creamtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,400 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Green peas
- Form the body of the dish and give a mild, sweet, vegetal flavour as they cook.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel, and carries flavour over the warm peas.
- Cream
- Optionally adds richness and a smoother, creamier texture.
The step that matters
Stopping the cooking on time. Prolonged heat softens the peas further and dulls their bright green colour, as chlorophyll breaks down. Start checking for doneness near the end of the 20 minutes, then drain promptly.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream):
- Filbertfits better
- Almondfits better
- Pecansfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream. 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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