Why it works: Peas and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,887 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Green Peas Soup, Without Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Boil the peas in 3 quarts of water with salt and baking soda until tender.
Drain the peas and pound them in a mortar.
Make the soup
Gradually mix in 5 pints of the cooking liquid.
Put the mixture back over the fire and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Press the soup through a fine sieve.
Finish
Melt the butter in a separate pan.
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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Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 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
- Peas
- Their starch thickens the liquid and gives the soup its body and green flavour.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, rounder mouthfeel.
- Baking soda
- Raises the cooking water's alkalinity, helping the peas soften and break down.
The step that matters
Simmer gently. Vigorous boiling can scorch the thickened purée on the base of the pan and dull its fresh colour and flavour. A gentle simmer thickens it evenly.
“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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