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Pea Soup

A hearty soup made with split peas, salt pork, ham, crackers, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Pea Soup

Why it works: Pork and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,638 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the split peas.

  2. In a kettle, combine the peas and cold water.

Cook the soup

  1. Boil for one hour.

  2. Add the lean salt pork and boil for two more hours.

  3. Near the end, add the ham slices and split crackers, along with pepper and salt.

  4. Stir frequently to prevent burning.

  5. Keep boiling water on hand to adjust the soup's thickness.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Pork + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,638 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Peas + porktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,589 recipes

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

  3. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  4. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

  5. Peas + hamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together402 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Split peas
Break down during long boiling to thicken the soup and give it body.
Lean salt pork
Adds savory fat and meaty flavor as it simmers into the broth.
Ham
Contributes salty, smoky meat flavor to the broth.
Split crackers
Add starch that helps thicken the soup further.

The step that matters

Stir frequently to prevent burning. Split peas are dense and sink toward the bottom of the kettle, where they can scorch during a long simmer. Regular stirring keeps them suspended and heats the soup evenly.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, ham, pepper):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Black-eyed peafits better
  3. Lima beansfits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, ham, 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.

More pea soup recipes

Green 380Split 228Baked Split 20Creamed 13Dried 10Winter 9 See all 368 →

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