Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 68,474 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Canned Peas Flavored with Onion
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, cook the onion in butter and water until very tender.
Allow the water to evaporate, ensuring the onion and butter do not burn.
Drain the peas and heat them with the cooked onion.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + peastop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,460 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,331 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Butter + peastop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Onion
- Softens as it cooks and turns sweeter and milder, flavoring the peas.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor and helping the onion brown gently.
- Peas
- Serve as the main vegetable, warmed through with the cooked onion and butter.
The step that matters
Evaporating the water without burning. Once the water has boiled off, the onion and butter can scorch quickly. Cooking the onion slowly until very tender lets its natural sugars develop without burning.
“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
Green Peas229 recipes
Green Peas Soup35 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipesThe 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 for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.