Why it works: Peas and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,044 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
An Excellent Green Peas Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the peas with the carbonate of soda until tender, about 25 to 30 minutes.
Drain the peas and add them to the boiling stock.
Gently stew the mixture for 30 minutes.
Pass the soup through a fine sieve into a clean pan and bring to a boil.
Add salt if needed and the pounded sugar.
Skim off any scum and serve hot.
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 + beeftop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,044 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,928 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,435 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 cooked and passed through a sieve.
- Carbonate of soda
- Raises the alkalinity of the cooking water, which helps the peas soften and keeps their green colour bright.
- Beef or veal stock
- Provides the liquid base and savoury depth that carries the pea flavour.
- Pounded sugar
- Adds a little sweetness to balance the savoury stock and vegetal peas.
The step that matters
Boil the peas with the carbonate of soda until tender. Peas must be cooked fully soft so the soup passes smoothly through a sieve. Carbonate of soda softens the skins and helps keep the colour green, but too much can make the flavour soapy and the peas mushy, so measure it carefully.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar):
- Sesamefits better
- Peanutfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, 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.
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