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Peas Porridge

A thick soup made from split peas, onions, celery, potatoes, and leeks, simmered with herbs and seasoned with pepper and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Peas Porridge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the split peas overnight in cold water.

  2. Discard any split peas that float.

  3. Slice the onions.

  4. Fry the onions in oil with the celery cut into 2‑inch lengths.

  5. Drain the onions and celery.

Make the stock

  1. Place the drained onions and celery in a large saucepan with herbs and Vejos.

  2. Add the cold water to the saucepan.

  3. Boil until the liquid tastes strongly of the herbs.

  4. Skim the liquid.

  5. Strain the liquid.

Cook and finish

  1. Return the strained liquid to the saucepan with the soaked peas and grated potatoes.

  2. Simmer until the peas are soft.

  3. Press the cooked peas through a sieve.

  4. Add a little liquid to soften the sieved peas.

  5. Return the porridge to the saucepan.

  6. If the porridge is not thick enough, mix in butter with flour.

  7. Season the porridge with pepper and salt.

  8. Cut the leeks into 2‑inch lengths.

  9. Boil the leeks in the soup until tender.

  10. Serve the soup.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Celery + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Onion + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,326 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Potato + leektop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30 recipes

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

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 porridge as they soften and break down when pressed.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth to the stock once fried and simmered.
Potatoes
Add starch that helps thicken the porridge as it cooks.
Butter and flour
Mixed together, they thicken the porridge further if it is too thin.
Leeks
Add mild onion flavour and tenderness to the finished soup.

The step that matters

Pressing the cooked peas through a sieve. Peas must be fully soft before sieving; undercooked peas will not purée smoothly and leave a grainy texture in the porridge.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, celery, potato, butter, flour, pepper, leek):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, celery, potato, butter, flour, pepper, leek. 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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