Why it works: Peas and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,887 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Pease Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the peas
Tie the split peas loosely in a cloth.
Boil the tied peas in water for 2 hours.
Mash and cook again
Once soft, remove from water and mash with salt, butter, and beaten egg until smooth.
Tie the mixture back in the cloth.
Boil for another hour.
Serve
Serve with corned beef.
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 + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
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
- Dry split peas
- Form the main body of the pudding as they soften and break down into a thick mash.
- Beaten egg
- Binds the mashed peas together and helps the pudding set as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer texture in the mash.
The step that matters
Tie the split peas loosely in the cloth. Split peas swell considerably as they cook, so the cloth needs enough room for them to expand while still holding the peas together.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg):
- Pecansfits better
- Almondfits better
- Filbertfits about as well
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg. 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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