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Soup

Cream Pea Soup

A split pea soup made with pork, onion, and milk or cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,214 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cream Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the split peas overnight in a gallon of water.

  2. In the morning, place the peas in a kettle with the soaking water.

  3. Add the piece of pork and the onion.

Cook and strain

  1. Boil for 2 to 3 hours until the peas are soft.

  2. Strain the mixture through a colander.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir in the milk or cream, and add salt and pepper to taste.

  2. Return to the heat and bring to a boil, then serve immediately.

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. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 recipes

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

  5. Peas + porktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,589 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
Break down during long boiling to thicken the soup and give it body.
Milk or cream
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the finished soup.
Pork
Contributes savory meaty flavor to the cooking liquid as it simmers.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the soup base.

The step that matters

Return to the heat and bring to a boil. Milk or cream can curdle or separate if it boils hard for long, so heat it gently and serve promptly once it is hot.

Swap the peas

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, onion, milk, 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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