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To Stew Old Peas

A simple stew of dried peas, butter, and optional meat, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 Stew Old Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the peas in water overnight or for half an hour if they are fine boilers.

  2. Place the peas in a pot with enough water to cover them.

Stew

  1. Add butter and a piece of beef or pork if using.

  2. Stew gently until the peas are soft and the meat is tender.

  3. If using fresh meat, add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve

  1. Serve the peas around the meat.

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 + minttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + minttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,372 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Peas + beeftop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,044 recipes

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

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

Dried peas
Form the main body of the dish, softening into a tender, thickened stew as they cook.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the cooking liquid.
Beef or pork
Contributes savory flavor and fat to the stew as it cooks until tender.

The step that matters

Stew gently until the peas are soft and the meat is tender. Gentle heat lets dried peas and meat soften evenly without bursting the peas or toughening the meat. Vigorous boiling can break the peas apart and make the meat tough, so keep the pot at a low simmer until both are done.

Swap the mint

The recipe marks mint as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, butter, pepper, beef):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, butter, pepper, beef. 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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