Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
To Boil Peas
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the peas
Pick over the peas.
Do not wash the peas to retain the sweet stem.
Boil the peas in water for 30 minutes.
Drain the peas.
Season and keep warm
Place the peas in a dish with butter and salt.
Keep the peas warm.
For older peas, add baking soda to the boiling water.
Make the sauce and serve
In a saucepan, combine peas with butter, salt, pepper, parsley, lettuce heart, and summer savory.
Add another piece of butter and a sprinkle of flour 20 minutes before serving.
For the sauce, whisk together egg, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and milk.
Stir constantly until thickened.
Pour the sauce over the peas before serving.
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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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Peas + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,005 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,331 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh peas
- Form the bulk of the dish and supply its sweet, delicate flavour.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, fatty mouthfeel to the peas.
- Egg
- Sets as it heats, thickening the sauce and giving it a creamy body.
- Milk
- Loosens the egg mixture into a soft, creamy sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the peas and sauce.
- Baking soda
- Raises the pH of the cooking water, helping older peas soften.
The step that matters
Stir the egg sauce constantly until thickened. Egg proteins set and thicken the sauce as it heats. If it gets too hot or sits unstirred, the egg can scramble and curdle, leaving a grainy texture.
Swap the peas
The recipe marks peas as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, lemon, pepper, milk):
- Walnutfits about as well
- Almondfits about as well
- Peasthe original
- Pistachiofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, lemon, pepper, 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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