Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the green peas in 1 pint of water until soft.
Mash the peas in the water they were boiled in.
Rub the mixture through a wire strainer.
Pour 1 pint of boiling water over the strained peas.
Add 1 pint of milk, 1 tablespoon of butter, and season with pepper and salt.
Stir well and serve.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,331 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + milktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,309 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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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 + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 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
- Green peas
- Form the body of the soup, giving it its main flavour and thick texture once mashed and strained.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the flavour of the soup.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Rub the mixture through a wire strainer. Pushing the cooked peas through a fine strainer breaks down the fibrous skins and leaves a smooth, even texture. Skipping or rushing this step leaves the soup grainy.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, pepper):
- Cocoafits better
- Walnutfits better
- Lima beansfits about as well
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, 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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