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Peas-poriudge

A simple porridge made from green peas, milk, butter, flour, and dried mint.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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-poriudge

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, combine green peas, water, dried mint, and salt.

  2. Boil until the peas are tender.

  3. In a bowl, mix butter and flour until smooth.

  4. Stir the butter mixture into the peas and boil for a few more minutes.

  5. Add milk and boil for 15 minutes.

  6. Remove the mint and serve.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Walnut + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Mint + walnuttop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together139 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Green peas
Form the body of the porridge and give it its main flavor.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the porridge a smoother mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the porridge as it cooks, so it becomes creamy rather than watery.
Milk
Adds creaminess and mild sweetness to the porridge as it simmers.

The step that matters

Stirring the butter and flour mixture into the peas. Flour mixed with butter should be fully smooth before it goes in, otherwise it clumps into lumps. Stirring it in while the liquid is hot and boiling for a few minutes lets the starch swell and thicken evenly.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, butter, walnut, flour, milk. 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.

More pea porridge recipes

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