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To Stew Green Peas

A stew of green peas cooked with cucumber, onion, ham, butter and cream, finished with a little sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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To Stew Green Peas

Why it works: Cucumber and peas match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 629 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Stew Green Peas

Oven, in the book's wordsA cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the vegetables

  1. Slice the cucumber and brown it in fried butter with the chopped onions.

Stew the peas

  1. Add the peas, pepper, and salt, and let them stew slowly for an hour without water, greasing the pan or adding butter if needed.

  2. Near the end of cooking, add the essence of ham and keep the pot covered.

  3. For a mint variation, add chopped lettuce hearts, mint, and the same seasonings, then mix in the butter.

  4. Add pump water, ham, and onion, and stew until tender, shaking the pan to prevent burning.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the ham and onion, then add butter rolled in flour and cream, boiling for 5 minutes.

  2. Finish with pounded loaf-sugar.

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. Cucumber + peastop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together629 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 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

Green peas
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender as they stew slowly.
Cream
Adds richness and smoothness to the liquid as it boils.
Butter
Adds fat and flavour, and with flour helps thicken the sauce.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they brown, adding savoury depth.
Cucumber
Browns in butter, adding a fresh vegetable element to the stew.
Ham
Lends a smoky, savoury aroma that flavours the stewing peas.

The step that matters

Stewing the peas without water. With no added liquid, the peas and vegetables can scorch on the base of the pan. Greasing the pan and shaking it regularly spreads heat and moisture, preventing burning while the peas soften.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, peas, pepper, ham, egg, butter, cream):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, peas, pepper, ham, egg, butter, cream. 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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