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Pea Soup

A hearty soup made with split peas, onions, water, salt, pepper, and optional baking soda for hard water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Pea Soup

Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rinse the split peas and place them in a large pot.

  2. Add the chopped onions, water, and season with salt and pepper.

Simmer

  1. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 6 hours.

  2. If using hard water, add a piece of baking soda about the size of a pea.

  3. Stir occasionally and add more water if necessary.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

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

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

  3. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 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
Provide the main body and thickening starch that gives the soup its texture.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aroma as they soften into the broth.
Baking soda
Raises the pH of hard water so the peas soften more readily during long simmering.

The step that matters

Simmering for 5 to 6 hours. Split peas need a long, gentle simmer to break down fully. Keeping the heat low and adding water as needed prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot and keeps the soup from thickening too early.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Black-eyed peafits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, 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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