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Pea Soup

A hearty soup made from split peas, water, carrot, onion, salt pork, celery, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Pea Soup

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the split peas overnight.

Cook the soup

  1. Three hours before dinner, drain the peas and add 2 quarts of water, carrot, onion, celery, and salt pork.

  2. Boil steadily, stirring often to prevent burning.

  3. Keep boiling water on hand to add as needed.

Finish

  1. Strain the soup through a coarse sieve.

  2. Stir in 1 cup of milk after the soup is done for added flavor.

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.

  1. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Peas + carrottop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,994 recipes

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

  5. Onion + porktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 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

Split peas
Starch breaks down during long simmering, thickening the soup and giving it body.
Salt pork
Releases fat and savory, salty flavor into the broth as it cooks.
Milk
Adds richness and a mellow, creamy finish to the strained soup.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it cooks, building savory depth in the broth.
Carrot
Adds gentle sweetness and color to the broth.

The step that matters

Boil steadily and stir often. Split peas are dense and starchy, so they settle and stick to the bottom of the pot, scorching easily. Frequent stirring keeps them suspended and cooking evenly, and topping up with boiling water keeps the soup at the right consistency.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, onion, pork, celery, milk):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Peanutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, onion, pork, celery, milk. 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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