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Peas Pudding

A savory pudding made from split peas, butter, white pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,887 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Peas Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peas

  1. Wash the split peas in cold water and soak them for 2 to 3 hours.

  2. Tie the soaked peas loosely in a clean cloth and place them in a pot of cold soft water.

  3. Boil the peas until tender, about 2 hours.

Season and shape

  1. Remove the peas, untie the cloth, and beat them with a wooden spoon.

  2. Add the butter, white pepper, and salt; mix well.

  3. Tie the pudding cloth tightly and boil it gently with the meat for another 30 minutes.

  4. Remove the pudding and let it stand in a colander for 10 minutes.

  5. Untie the cloth and turn the pudding out.

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

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

  2. Peas + white peppertop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together252 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  3. Butter + white peppertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,814 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

Split peas
Form the bulk of the pudding, and their starch thickens into a soft, sturdy mass as they cook.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer flavor and a smoother, moister texture.

The step that matters

Tying the pudding cloth tightly before the second boil. A loose cloth lets the peas spread and lose their shape, while a tight tie keeps the pudding compact so it holds together when turned out.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Mintfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, butter. 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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