Why it works: Peas and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,434 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Peas Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Soak the peas in cold water for 1 hour.
In a saucepan, boil the peas in 1 quart of water until they can be pulped through a sieve.
Finish and serve
Add the pulped peas to the seasoned broth and boil together for a few minutes.
Serve with fried bread and powdered mint.
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.
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Peas + ricetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,434 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Peas + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,065 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,350 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Whole peas
- Provide the bulk of the soup and, once cooked and pulped, its thick body and flavour.
- Broth
- Supplies the savoury base that the pulped peas are stirred into.
- Egg yolks
- Optional enrichment that adds richness and thickens the soup slightly when stirred in.
The step that matters
Boiling the peas until they can be pulped. Peas must be cooked until soft enough to pass through a sieve. Undercooked peas stay firm and grainy, so the soup will not become smooth and thick.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, egg):
- Sesamefits better
- Peanutfits about as well
- Almondfits about as well
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, egg. 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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