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Mashed Potatoes Trimmed with Peas

A dish of mashed potatoes mixed with cooked peas.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and peas are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,016 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Mashed Potatoes Trimmed with Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and chop the potatoes.

  2. Boil them in salted water until tender.

Mash and add peas

  1. Drain the potatoes and mash them with butter, salt, and pepper.

  2. In a separate pot, cook the peas until tender.

  3. Fold the peas into the mashed potatoes before serving.

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. Potato + peastop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,016 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  5. Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Potatoes
Provide the starchy base that becomes soft and fluffy when mashed.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the mash a smooth, creamy texture.
Peas
Add sweetness and a bright color and texture to the mash.

The step that matters

Boil the potatoes until tender. Potatoes that are undercooked stay firm and lumpy when mashed, while thoroughly cooked potatoes break down smoothly. Test with a fork before draining.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Peanutfits about as well
  3. Chickpeafits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, 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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