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To Boil Green Peas

A simple boiled green peas dish seasoned with salt and optional mint, served with butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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To Boil Green Peas

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 Boil Green Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the salt.

  2. Skim the water, then add the peas and the sprig of mint if using.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil the peas rapidly for 20-25 minutes until tender but not burst.

  2. Drain the peas through a sieve or colander.

  3. Serve immediately with a slice of butter or melted butter.

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

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

  3. Mint + buttertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,559 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 of the dish, becoming tender and sweet as their starches soften in hot water.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, coating the warm peas and carrying flavour.
Mint
Adds a fresh aromatic flavour to the cooking water and peas.

The step that matters

Boil the peas rapidly. A vigorous boil keeps the water hot so the peas cook evenly. Overcooking softens the skins until they split, so check for tenderness before the 20-25 minute mark ends.

“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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