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Grsen Pea Soup

A hearty soup of lamb, peas, potatoes, and butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,016 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Grsen Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

  1. In a large pot, combine the lamb and cold water, then add the coarse sea salt.

  2. Boil gently for 2 hours, then skim the surface to remove impurities.

Add the vegetables

  1. Add the shelled peas and pepper and boil for 30 minutes.

  2. Add the scraped young potatoes, cover and boil for another 30 minutes.

Thicken and serve

  1. In a small bowl, mix the butter and flour until smooth, then stir this mixture into the soup 10-12 minutes before serving.

  2. Serve the soup in a tureen and the meat with parsley sauce on a separate dish.

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 + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,016 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Lamb + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together520 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Lamb
Gives the broth its rich, meaty flavour as it simmers for hours.
Shelled peas
Provide the main green colour and sweet, fresh flavour of the soup.
Young potatoes
Soften as they cook, adding body and starch that thicken the soup slightly.
Butter and flour
Form a roux-like paste that thickens the soup and adds richness when stirred in.

The step that matters

Skimming the surface after the first 2 hours. Foam and impurities rising from the meat cloud the broth if left in, so skimming keeps the soup clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, pepper, potato, butter, flour):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, potato, butter, flour. 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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