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Peas Pudding

A baked pudding made from soaked split peas, butter, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,331 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Peas Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the peas

  1. Soak the split peas overnight in water.

  2. Tie the soaked peas in a cloth and plunge into boiling water.

  3. Cook for 2 hours.

  4. Drain the peas well and mash or rub through a sieve.

Season and bake

  1. Add the butter and season with salt and pepper.

  2. Butter a basin and sprinkle it with breadcrumbs.

  3. Press the pea mixture into the basin and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

  4. Turn out and serve with boiled meat.

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 + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Split peas
Form the main body of the pudding, thickening into a soft, mashable mass when cooked.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, giving the mashed peas a smoother texture and browning gently in the oven.

The step that matters

Cooking the peas until fully soft. Split peas must become thoroughly tender before mashing or sieving. Undercooked peas stay grainy and will not form a smooth, cohesive pudding that holds its shape.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Walnutfits better
  2. Black-eyed peafits better
  3. Almondfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter. 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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