Name: Green Peas, Fresh or Canned
Ingredients: 1 peck fresh green peas; 1 teaspoon white sugar; Salt; Pepper; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 quart canned peas (if using canned)

Why it works: Peas and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,331 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Green Peas, Fresh or Canned

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Shell the fresh peas without washing them.

Cook

Boil salted water and add the peas and sugar.
Cook for 30 minutes, then drain.

Season and serve

Season with salt and pepper, and stir in butter before serving hot.
For canned peas, add sugar and salt to the can, cover with cold water, and add butter.
Heat and serve in the cooking liquid.

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.

Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,331 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,887 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Peas + sugartop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,928 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Green peas: Form the main body of the dish and provide its fresh, sweet vegetable flavour.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the natural starchiness of the peas.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, giving the peas a smooth, glossy mouthfeel.