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A Cheap Green Peas Soup

A soup made from green peas, cucumbers, lettuces, onions, and herbs, simmered in a broth of boiled pea shells.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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A Cheap Green Peas Soup

Why it works: Cucumber and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

A Cheap Green Peas Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pea shell liquor

  1. Wash the pea shells thoroughly and add them to boiling salted water.

  2. Cook the pea shells for 20 to 30 minutes until tender.

  3. Strain the cooked pea shells and press the pods with a wooden spoon.

  4. Measure the liquid and pour 2 quarts into a clean deep saucepan.

Simmer the soup

  1. Bring the liquid to a boil.

  2. Add 1 quart of green peas, cucumbers, lettuces, and the thinly sliced onion that has been stewed in butter for 30 minutes.

  3. Add parsley and mint leaves.

  4. Simmer gently for 1 hour.

  5. Season with salt and white pepper or cayenne to taste.

Finish and serve

  1. Strain the soup through a fine sieve.

  2. Reheat the soup.

  3. Serve with small fried sippets.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cucumber + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,409 recipes

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

  2. Peas + minttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Cucumber + minttop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together884 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Green peas
Give the soup its body, sweet flavor and bright green color.
Pea shells
Release flavor and starch into the liquor that forms the soup base.
Lettuces
Add soft texture and a mild, sweet vegetal flavor as they cook down.
Cucumbers
Contribute a cool, fresh flavor and watery, tender texture.
Onion
Adds savory depth and aroma as it softens in butter.
Butter
Adds richness and carries the flavor of the onion.

The step that matters

Stewing the sliced onion in butter. Cooking the onion slowly in butter softens it and builds sweetness and aroma. Rushing it or letting it brown can leave harsh, bitter notes in the soup.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, cucumber, lettuce, onion, butter, parsley, mint):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, cucumber, lettuce, onion, butter, parsley, mint. 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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