Name: To Stew Young Peas and Lettuce
Ingredients: 1-2 heads of cabbage lettuce; 1 quart (4 cups) young peas; 3 tablespoons gravy; 1 tablespoon butter; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon pounded loaf sugar; cold water; coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')

Why it works: Cabbage and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 622 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Stew Young Peas and Lettuce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lettuce

Wash and clean the lettuce, removing the outside leaves.
Soak the lettuce in cold water with a little coarse sea salt for 2 hours.

Stew

Slice the soaked lettuce and place it in a saucepan with the peas, gravy, butter, pepper, salt, and sugar.
Cover and stew until the peas are soft.

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.

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.

Cabbage + lettucetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together622 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + peastop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,293 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,037 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cabbage + peastop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together392 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

Cabbage lettuce: Forms the body of the stew, softening as it cooks to become tender and mild.
Young peas: Provide the main vegetable bulk and a sweet, fresh flavour as they soften.
Gravy: Adds liquid and savoury depth so the vegetables stew in a rich base.
Butter: Adds fat for a smoother, rounder mouthfeel and richer flavour.
Loaf sugar: Adds a little sweetness that balances the savoury gravy and bitter greens.

The step that matters

Cover and stew until the peas are soft. Covering traps steam so the mixture cooks gently and evenly. Stopping too early leaves the peas starchy and firm, while overcooking turns them dull and mushy.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, lettuce, butter, pepper, sugar):

Chestnutfits better
Beansfits better
Walnutfits better
Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, lettuce, butter, pepper, sugar. 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.

Green Peas229 recipes

Red Cabbage65 recipes

Stewed Cabbage58 recipes

Baked Cabbage51 recipes

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To Stew Young Peas and Lettuce