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Pea Stew

A hearty stew of young peas, bacon or ham, onions, lettuce, parsley, sugar, cream, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Pea Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shell the peas. Soak them in cold water with the butter to prevent sticking. Drain in a colander.

  2. Place the bacon or ham at the bottom of a stew pan. Add the drained peas.

  3. Top the mixture with onions, chopped lettuce, and parsley.

Cook

  1. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally. Add water if necessary.

  2. When the lettuce has wilted, toss the stew pan to mix the ingredients.

  3. Remove the parsley before serving.

  4. Add pepper and sugar.

  5. Stir in fresh cream and a lump of butter rolled in flour before serving.

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.

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.

  1. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Cabbage + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together622 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

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

  5. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Peas
Form the body of the stew, becoming tender and sweet as they cook.
Bacon or ham
Adds savoury fat and smoky, salty flavour that seasons the whole stew.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the stew.
Lettuce
Wilts into the stew, adding moisture and a soft, tender texture.
Fresh cream
Adds richness and body to the finished stew.
Butter rolled in flour
Thickens the stew slightly as it melts into the liquid.

The step that matters

Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally. Low, gentle heat softens the peas and lettuce evenly without scorching the bottom of the pan. Occasional stirring and added water, if needed, keep the stew from sticking and drying out.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, ham, onion, cabbage, lettuce, parsley, pepper):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, ham, onion, cabbage, lettuce, parsley, 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.

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