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Pea Soup

A hearty soup made from split peas, onion, butter, sugar, herbs, mint, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Wash the split peas in several waters.

  2. Soak them overnight in 1 pint of water.

Cook the soup

  1. Melt the butter or dripping in a saucepan.

  2. Add the drained peas and the lump of sugar.

  3. Add a little water (about ½ teacup) as needed.

  4. Add the finely shredded onion, dried herbs, and dried mint.

  5. Let the soup boil gently for 2 more hours.

  6. Stir frequently.

  7. Add water as it thickens.

  8. Rub the mixture through a coarse sieve.

  9. Return the pulp to the saucepan.

  10. Add 1 quart of stock.

  11. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  12. Boil for 5 minutes.

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 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

Split peas
Form the body of the soup as they soften and break down into a thick purée.
Onion
Adds savoury sweetness and aroma as it cooks slowly into the base.
Butter or dripping
Carries the aroma of the herbs and adds richness to the soup.
Stock
Supplies the main liquid and savoury flavour of the finished soup.

The step that matters

Adding water as the soup thickens. Split peas thicken and can scorch on the base of the pan as they cook. Adding water as needed keeps the soup loose and stops the bottom from burning, while stirring frequently spreads the heat evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, butter, walnut, sugar, mint, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, butter, walnut, sugar, mint, pepper. 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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