Why it works: Peas and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,331 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
A Peas Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas
Sort and wash the split peas, removing any worm-eaten ones.
Soak the peas in plenty of soft water overnight.
The next day, tie the soaked peas in a thick pudding cloth, leaving room for them to swell.
Cook and shape
Cover with cold soft water and boil gently for 2 to 2.5 hours until tender.
Lift the peas into a colander, untie the cloth, and crush them into a paste with a wooden spoon.
Stir in the butter, salt, and pepper, then tie the mixture tightly in the cloth again.
Boil for an additional 30 minutes.
Serve
Carefully turn the pudding onto a dish and serve hot.
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 + peppertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,331 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,887 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Split peas
- Form the main body of the pudding, breaking down into a thick, starchy paste when cooked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smoother, more velvety texture to the crushed peas.
The step that matters
Tying the cloth with room to swell. Split peas expand considerably as they absorb water. If the cloth is tied too tightly before they swell, the pudding can burst or become misshapen during boiling.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper):
- Walnutfits better
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Almondfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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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