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Split-peas Pudding

A savory pudding made from soaked split peas, butter, and seasonings, served with melted butter and parsnip garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and parsnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 669 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Split-peas Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the split peas in water overnight.

  2. Drain the peas.

  3. Place the drained peas in a loose cloth.

Cook and shape

  1. Boil the peas for 4 hours or until tender.

  2. Rub the peas through a colander until smooth.

  3. Mix in the butter and salt thoroughly.

  4. If using, add the beaten eggs with the butter before tying.

  5. Tie the mixture tightly in the cloth.

  6. Boil the tied mixture for 1 hour.

Serve

  1. Serve with melted butter poured over.

  2. Garnish with parsnips.

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. Flour + parsniptop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together669 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Pepper + parsniptop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,109 recipes

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

  3. Peas + parsniptop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together152 recipes

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Yellow split peas
Form the main body of the pudding and set into a thick, soft mass when cooked and rubbed smooth.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, giving the pudding a smoother mouthfeel and a fuller flavour.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firmly as it cooks.

The step that matters

Tie the mixture tightly in the cloth. The cloth holds the pudding's shape while it boils. A loose tie lets water seep in and can make the pudding soggy or cause it to break apart.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, flour, egg, parsnip):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, flour, egg, parsnip. 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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