Why it works: Peas and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,434 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Peas Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Soak the white peas in cold water for several hours.
Place the soaked peas in a pan and cover with water.
Boil until thoroughly cooked.
Pass the cooked peas through a fine sieve into a pot.
Make the soup
Add the pea puree to the good stock and stir to combine.
Cook the rice in a separate pot until tender.
Add the cooked rice to the soup.
Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.
Slowly stir the beaten yolks into the soup without boiling.
Serve
Serve the soup hot with fried bread on the side.
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.
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Peas + ricetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,434 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Peas + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).
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Rice + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Peas + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,065 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White peas
- Break down into a smooth puree that gives the soup its body and thickness.
- Good stock
- Forms the liquid base that carries the pea flavour.
- Rice
- Adds body and a soft, thickening texture to the soup.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the soup and thicken it gently when heated without boiling.
The step that matters
Stirring the yolks in without boiling. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat; if the soup boils while they are added, the proteins scramble and curdle, leaving a grainy texture instead of a smooth, creamy one.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, egg, bread):
- Peasthe original
- Beansfits about as well
- Peanutfits about as well
- Almondfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, egg, bread. 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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