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Pea Soup

A hearty soup made from split peas, dripping, vegetables, and seasonings, simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Pea Soup

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Pea Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the peas well and soak them overnight with a small piece of baking soda.

  2. In a large pot, combine the soaked peas, dripping, and cold water.

Simmer

  1. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  2. Once boiling, skim the surface and add the chopped onion.

  3. Boil for 3 hours.

  4. Strain the mixture and return the liquid to the pot.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the grated carrot, turnip, minced parsley, salt, and pepper.

  2. Bring the soup back to a boil.

  3. Serve with toasted bread.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Split peas
Form the body of the soup as they soften and break down during long simmering.
Dripping
Adds richness and fat, giving the soup a rounder, savoury flavour.
Baking soda (in the method)
Helps the peas soften faster by raising the pH of the soaking water.
Onion
Contributes savoury aroma and depth of flavour as it cooks into the broth.
Carrot
Adds gentle natural sweetness and colour to the soup.

The step that matters

Boil for 3 hours. Split peas must cook long enough for their starch to fully break down. Stopping early leaves the soup grainy and thin, so the peas should be fully tender before straining.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, onion, parsley, pepper):

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, onion, parsley, 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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