Why it works: Pork and beef match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓
Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the split peas in warm water overnight.
Make the soup
Combine the soaked peas, salt pork, beef bones, and cold water in a pot.
Add the chopped onion, salt, and pepper.
Strain the mixture through a colander, rubbing the peas to create a thick puree.
Simmer for 10 minutes and pour into a tureen with the sliced lemon.
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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Pork + beeftop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,690 recipes
Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Split peas
- Provide the starch and body that thicken the soup into a puree.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that carries through the broth.
- Beef bones
- Release gelatin and meaty flavor into the cooking water.
- Onion
- Adds aromatic sweetness and depth as it softens in the broth.
The step that matters
Straining and rubbing the peas. Pressing the cooked peas through a colander breaks them down and releases starch, which thickens the soup. Pushing too little leaves it thin and grainy; the texture depends on this step.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, pork, beef, onion, pepper):
- Avocadofits better
- Limefits about as well
- Mangofits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against peas, pork, beef, 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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