Name: Lentil and Peas Soup
Ingredients: 1 cup lentils; 1 cup peas; 4 cups water; 1 onion, chopped; 2 carrots, chopped; 2 tablespoons olive oil; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste

Why it works: Lentils and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 505 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Lentil and Peas Soup

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Rinse the lentils and peas under cold water.

Cook

In a pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and sauté the onion and carrots until soft.
Add the lentils, peas, and water to the pot.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes until lentils are tender.
Season with salt and pepper before serving.

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.

Lentils + carrottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together505 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lentils + olivetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together727 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Peas + carrottop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,994 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lentils: Provide the main body and protein-rich texture of the soup as they soften during simmering.
Peas: Add sweetness and a soft, tender texture to the soup.
Olive oil: Carries heat and flavor when sautéing the onion and carrots, adding richness.
Carrots: Add sweetness and body as they soften in the pot.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lentils, onion, carrot, olive, pepper):

Chickpeafits better
Cashew nutfits better
Beansfits better
Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lentils, onion, carrot, olive, pepper. 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.