Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
To Make Pease Porridge
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Boil the green peas until tender.
Pulp the peas through a colander.
Make the porridge
In a saucepan, heat the butter.
Add the pulped peas, parsley, chives, salt, and pepper.
Stir until heated through and serve.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,150 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Peas + chivetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together227 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Chive + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,885 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Peas + parsleytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,885 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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 porridge once boiled and pulped into a thick purée.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the pulped peas.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, chive, pepper):
- Chickpeafits better
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, chive, 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.
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