Why it works: Lettuce and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,409 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Green-Pease Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the butter in a large stew-pan over medium heat.
Add the peas, shredded lettuces, sliced cucumbers, and sliced onions; cook until nearly fried.
Stir in the flour until smooth.
Gradually pour in the veal broth.
If using, add the ham bone for extra flavor.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Lettuce + cucumbertop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,409 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + lettucetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together622 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,293 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Peas + cucumbertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together629 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cabbage + cucumbertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together722 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
- Butter
- Melts first to coat the vegetables and carry flavor through the soup.
- Young green peas
- Provide the main body, sweetness and bright green color of the soup.
- Cabbage lettuces
- Soften during cooking and add body and mild vegetable flavor to the soup.
- Cucumbers
- Add a fresh, delicate vegetable flavor and moisture as they cook down.
- Onions
- Contribute savory sweetness and aroma as they soften in the butter.
- Flour
- Thickens the broth so the soup becomes smooth and creamy-bodied.
The step that matters
Stirring in the flour until smooth. Flour clumps if added to hot fat unevenly or dumped in at once. Stirring it fully into the butter and vegetables coats the starch grains so they disperse, then thicken the broth evenly when liquid is added.
Flavor stand-ins for the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, peas, lettuce, cucumber, onion, flour, veal):
- Chivebetter flavor fit
- Leekbetter flavor fit
- Shallotbetter flavor fit
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, peas, lettuce, cucumber, onion, flour, veal. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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