Why it works: Peas and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,887 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Peas Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Dry the split peas thoroughly by the fire.
Tie the peas loosely in a cloth and soak them in warm water.
Cook and finish
Boil the peas for 2 hours or until tender.
Remove the peas, beat them in a dish with salt, butter, and egg yolk until smooth.
Tie the mixture back in the cloth and boil for an additional hour.
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 + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Peas + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,065 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Split peas
- Form the main body of the pudding, thickening into a soft, starchy mass as they cook.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smoother, silkier texture to the cooked peas.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the mashed peas and helps the pudding set firmer when cooked.
The step that matters
Tie the mixture back in the cloth and boil for an additional hour. The cloth must be tied loosely enough for the pudding to swell, yet snugly enough to hold its shape. Keeping the water at a steady boil and the cloth fully submerged ensures even cooking and a firm, cohesive pudding.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg):
- Pecansfits better
- Almondfits better
- Filbertfits about as well
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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