Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Puree of Green Peas, for Garniture
Ingredients
Directions
Make the puree
Cook the green peas until tender, then drain them.
In a saucepan, combine the peas with the cream sauce, salt, pepper, and sugar. Mix well and rub the mixture through a fine sieve.
Return the puree to the saucepan to keep warm.
Finish and serve
Before serving, add a piece of butter.
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.
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 puree once cooked and sieved.
- Cream sauce
- Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the puree.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a glossy finish and rich flavour.
The step that matters
Rubbing the mixture through a fine sieve. Pushing the cooked peas through a fine sieve breaks down their fibrous skins and cell walls, producing a smooth puree. Skipping or rushing this leaves a grainy texture.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sauce, pepper, sugar, butter):
- Chestnutfits better
- Almondfits better
- Pistachiofits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sauce, pepper, sugar, butter. 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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Green Peas229 recipes
Green Peas Soup35 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes