Why it works: Peas and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,434 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Soup of Pea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Soak the peas in clean cold water for several hours.
Boil the peas in a pan with 4 cups of water until soft.
Pass the peas through a fine sieve.
Finish the soup
Add the pea puree to the strong broth.
Stir in the cooked rice.
Beat the egg yolk and mix it with the soup, heating gently without boiling.
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 + ricetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,434 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Peas + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,065 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,350 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dried peas
- Provide the main body and flavour of the soup when cooked and pureed.
- Strong broth
- Supplies savoury depth as the liquid base for the soup.
- Cooked rice
- Adds body and thickness to the soup.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches and thickens the soup when gently heated without boiling.
The step that matters
Heating the soup after adding the egg yolk. Egg yolk thickens through gentle heat, but boiling can cause it to curdle and turn grainy. Keeping the soup below a boil keeps it smooth and creamy.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, egg):
- Sesamefits better
- Peanutfits about as well
- Almondfits about as well
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, egg. 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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