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Stewed Peas and Lettuce

A simple stew of green peas and lettuce, sweetened with sugar and seasoned with salt and pepper, finished with egg yolk and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,293 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Stewed Peas and Lettuce

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the vegetables

  1. Combine the peas and chopped lettuce in a pot with just enough water to prevent burning.

  2. Boil until tender.

  3. Add the sugar and salt.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir in the beaten egg yolk, cream, and pepper.

  2. Do not allow the mixture to boil after adding the egg mixture.

  3. Serve hot.

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 + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 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

Green peas
Provide the main body and sweet, vegetal flavor of the dish.
Lettuce
Softens into the stew, adding moisture and a mild, tender texture.
Egg yolk
Thickens the liquid gently as it heats, giving the stew a smoother, richer body.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, softening the flavor and smoothing the texture.

The step that matters

Do not let the mixture boil after adding the egg. Egg yolk proteins set and can curdle or turn grainy when overheated, so the mixture should be kept hot but below a boil once the yolk and cream go in.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lettuce, sugar, egg, cream, pepper):

  1. Chestnutfits better
  2. Walnutfits better
  3. Pistachiofits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lettuce, sugar, egg, cream, 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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