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Soup

Dried Pea

A soup made from dried peas, bacon, butter, and thickening, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,331 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Dried Pea

2 quarts of soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Wash the peas well and soak them for 1 to 2 hours.

Cook the soup

  1. Boil the soaked peas in enough water to make 2 quarts of soup, adding the slice of bacon.

  2. Cook for 2 to 3 hours.

  3. Strain the soup through a fine colander.

Finish the soup

  1. Add the butter, thickening, and season with salt and pepper.

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. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  2. Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Small white peas
Form the body of the soup as they soften and break down during long cooking.
Fat bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor to the water as the peas cook.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel at the end.
Thickening
Increases the viscosity of the soup so it feels thicker.

The step that matters

Straining through a fine colander. Pressing the cooked peas through a fine strainer separates the skins and fibres, giving the smooth texture the soup depends on. Skipping or rushing this leaves the soup grainy.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper):

  1. Walnutfits better
  2. Black-eyed peafits better
  3. Almondfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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