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Split Pea Soup

A hearty soup made with split peas, potatoes, celery, onion, and seasonings, served hot with toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the split peas in water overnight after picking over and washing them.

  2. In the morning, combine the soaked peas, potatoes, celery, and onion in a pot.

Cook and strain

  1. Cook over medium heat until all ingredients are tender.

  2. Rub the mixture through a sieve into a clean saucepan.

Season and serve

  1. Add salt, pepper, and a little water if necessary, then bring to a boil.

  2. Serve hot with slices of toast.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

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

  4. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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 thick, earthy texture as they soften and break down.
Potatoes
Add starch that thickens the soup and gives it a smoother, creamier body.
Onion
Adds savory aroma and depth of flavor as it cooks into the base.

The step that matters

Rub the mixture through a sieve. Pushing the fully cooked peas, potatoes and vegetables through a sieve breaks down the solids and makes the soup smooth. Stopping early leaves the texture grainy and uneven.

Swap the peas

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, celery, 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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