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To Keep Green Peas

A method for preserving green peas in clarified mutton fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Keep Green Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Boil water in a kettle.

  2. Add the shelled peas and boil for 2-3 minutes.

  3. Drain the peas in a colander and let them dry on a cloth.

Bottle and store

  1. Bottle the peas in wide-mouthed bottles, leaving space for clarified mutton fat.

  2. Cover with clarified mutton fat and seal with a cork.

  3. Store in a cool place.

Cook to serve

  1. When ready to use, boil the peas with butter, sugar, and mint until tender.

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.

  1. Peas + minttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Butter + minttop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,559 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. 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 bulk of the dish, becoming tender and sweet when boiled.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, fatty mouthfeel to the cooked peas.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the savory notes of the peas.
Mint
Contributes a fresh, aromatic flavour to the cooked peas.

The step that matters

Drying the peas before bottling. Any water left on the peas dilutes the preserving fat and can encourage spoilage. Draining and drying them thoroughly helps the fat cover the peas fully and keep them stable in storage.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Mintthe original
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, butter, 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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