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Stewed Peas

A stew of young peas cooked with butter, cabbage, onions, parsley, sugar, and salt, finished with a butter‑flour mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 622 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stewed Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Combine peas, butter, and enough cold water to cover in a pan.

  2. Rub peas and butter together until well mixed.

  3. Drain off the water.

  4. Transfer peas to a stewpan with shredded lettuces, green onions, parsley, sugar, and salt.

Stew and thicken

  1. Cover and stew gently over low heat for about 30 minutes.

  2. If there's excess liquid, boil it down quickly.

  3. Knead together fresh butter and flour on a plate.

  4. Add the butter‑flour mixture to the peas.

  5. Toss the mixture over the heat until well combined.

Serve

  1. Dish up the peas.

  2. Garnish with fleurons.

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. Cabbage + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together622 recipes

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

  2. Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

  5. Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 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

Young peas
Form the main body of the dish, becoming soft and tender during gentle stewing.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the stewed peas.
Cabbage lettuces
Release moisture and sweetness as they wilt, softening into the stew.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid when kneaded with butter and stirred in.

The step that matters

Adding the butter‑flour mixture. Flour must be fully incorporated and heated while tossing; stirring it in cold or leaving it clumped can leave raw flour taste and lumps instead of a smooth, lightly thickened sauce.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cabbage, lettuce, onion, parsley, sugar, flour):

  1. Chestnutfits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cabbage, lettuce, onion, parsley, sugar, flour. 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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