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Green Peas a LA Francaise

A baked dish of green peas, onions, and bacon flavored with salt, pepper, and powdered sugar, garnished with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Green Peas a LA Francaise

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Place the shelled peas, onions, and shredded bacon in a thoroughly buttered paper bag.

  3. Season with salt, pepper, and powdered sugar.

  4. Add ½ to ¾ cup of water, then close the bag and fasten it with clips.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the bag on a wire grid and cook in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes.

  2. Once cooked, transfer the peas to a hot dish and sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  4. Peas + parsleytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,885 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

Green peas
Form the main body of the dish and soften into a tender, sweet vegetable.
Onions
Soften as they cook, adding sweetness and a mild aromatic flavor to the peas.
Streaky bacon
Renders fat into the peas and adds savory, smoky flavor as it cooks.
Powdered sugar
Adds a little sweetness that balances the savory bacon and seasoning.

The step that matters

Closing the bag tightly. The sealed bag traps steam so the peas cook gently in their own moisture and the added water. If the bag leaks or is left open, steam escapes, the peas can dry out, and the cooking becomes uneven.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Black-eyed peafits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, sugar, parsley. 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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