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Green Pea Soup

A soup made from green peas, broth, mint, and toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Green Pea Soup

Why it works: Peas and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,137 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Green Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Fill a large saucepan halfway with water and bring the water to a boil.

  2. Add ½ cup of coarse sea salt and skim off the scum.

  3. Add the peas and boil for 25 minutes.

  4. Drain the water.

Make the soup

  1. In a stewpan, combine 3 quarts of broth and the peas with 12 leaves of mint.

  2. Cover tightly and let it stew for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

  3. Season with pepper and salt.

  4. Rub through a coarse sieve.

Serve

  1. Serve hot with toasted bread cut into dice.

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.

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.

  1. Peas + minttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Mint + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,372 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Peas + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).

  4. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 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

Green peas
Form the body of the soup, becoming thick and smooth when pressed through a sieve.
Broth (mutton or veal)
Provides the liquid base and savory depth in which the peas stew.
Mint
Adds a fresh, aromatic flavour that brightens the rich stewed peas.
Toasted bread
Adds crisp texture and contrast to the smooth soup when served.

The step that matters

Rubbing the soup through a coarse sieve. Pressing the stewed peas through a sieve breaks down their cell walls and separates the skins, giving a smooth, even texture. Skipping or rushing this leaves the soup grainy and lumpy.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, mutton, pepper, bread):

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Mintthe original
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Celeryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, mutton, pepper, bread. 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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