Why it works: Peas and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 629 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Green Pease Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Shell the peas, keeping old ones in one bowl and young ones in another.
Set aside 1 pint of young peas to boil separately.
Make the soup
In a large saucepan, bring half full of water to a boil.
Add the peas and a handful of salt.
Boil for 20-30 minutes until tender.
Drain the peas and transfer them to a clean gallon stewpan.
Add 3 quarts of plain broth and cover the stewpan.
Set the stewpan over low heat and let it simmer gently for 1 hour.
Stir in 1 teacup of bread crumbs.
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve into another stewpan.
If too thick, add more broth.
Finish and serve
Boil the reserved young peas.
Add the boiled young peas to the soup.
Season with salt and sugar to taste.
If using cucumbers, slice them, remove seeds, drain on a cloth, flour, and fry in butter until light brown.
Add the fried cucumbers to the soup just before serving.
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.
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Peas + cucumbertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together629 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Peas + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).
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Bread + cucumbertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together344 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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
- Green peas
- Form the main body and flavor of the soup once cooked and sieved.
- Plain veal or mutton broth
- Provides the liquid that carries the soup and sets its thinned consistency.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and help thicken the soup as it simmers.
- Young peas
- Added whole at the end to contribute fresh texture and bright color.
The step that matters
Rubbing the mixture through a fine sieve. Pressing the cooked peas through a fine sieve breaks down their cell walls and fibres, giving a smooth, even texture. Skipping or rushing this leaves the soup grainy.
Swap the cucumber
The recipe marks cucumber as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, veal, bread, sugar, butter):
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Cucumberthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against peas, veal, bread, sugar, butter. 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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