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Peas Stewed with Mint

A stew of peas, cabbage lettuce hearts, mint, ham, onion, butter, cream, and powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Peas Stewed with Mint

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the hearts of the lettuces small.

  2. In a stewpan, combine the lettuces, peas, and chopped mint.

Stew

  1. Add pepper and salt, then mix in the butter without bruising the peas.

  2. Stir in the pumped water, ham, and onion.

  3. Stew on the fire for about 20 minutes, shaking the pan to prevent burning.

  4. Remove the ham and onion.

Finish

  1. Add more butter rolled in flour and the cream.

  2. Boil together for 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in the powdered 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.

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. Cabbage + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together622 recipes

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

  3. Lettuce + peastop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

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

  4. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  5. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 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

Lettuce hearts
Soften and thicken the stew as they cook down, adding body to the liquid.
Young green peas
Form the main body of the stew and provide sweetness and fresh flavor.
Butter rolled in flour
Thickens the liquid and adds richness to the stew.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the finished stew.
Ham
Lends savory, salty flavor to the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Stir in the butter without bruising the peas. Gentle mixing keeps the peas whole and bright green. Crushing them releases starch and dulls color, leaving a mushy, muddy stew.

Swap the mint

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, lettuce, peas, pepper, butter, ham, onion. 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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