Why it works: Cream and butter 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
Prepare
Soak the pea pods in cold water before shelling.
Do not wash the peas.
Cook
Boil the fresh young pods in a saucepan for 30 minutes.
Strain the water.
Boil the peas in the same water, uncovered, for 20 to 30 minutes until tender.
Drain off the liquid.
Finish
Add a little cream, a large piece of butter, salt, and pepper.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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
- Fresh young peas
- Provide the main body and sweet flavour of the dish.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky moisture to the peas.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a glossy coating on the peas.
The step that matters
Boil the peas until tender. Peas must cook long enough to soften fully, since the starch in peas only becomes tender after prolonged heating in water. Stopping too early leaves them firm and starchy, while overcooking turns them mushy and dull in colour.
“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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