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To Keep Green Peas

Preserves green peas in clarified mutton fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

To Keep Green Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and preserve

  1. Shell the peas and add them to boiling water for 2-3 minutes.

  2. Drain the peas in a colander and spread them on a cloth to dry.

  3. Bottle the dried peas in wide-mouthed bottles, leaving space for clarified mutton fat.

  4. Seal the bottles and store them in a cool place.

Cook and serve

  1. When ready to use, boil the peas in water with a bit of butter and sugar until tender, adding a sprig of dried mint while boiling.

  2. Garnish with chopped scalded mint and stir in a piece of butter before serving.

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. Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Butter + minttop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,559 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Peas + sugartop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh green peas
Provide the main body and sweet, vegetal flavor of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, moist mouthfeel to the cooked peas.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the grassy flavor of the peas.

The step that matters

Drying the peas before bottling. Peas that stay wet after blanching can spoil in storage. Thorough drying removes surface moisture, which helps the peas keep when sealed and stored cool.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, butter, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Mintthe original
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, butter, sugar. 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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