Why it works: Peas and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,434 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Gbeen Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Boil the empty pods of the peas in the water for 1 hour.
Strain out the pods and add the beef.
Boil slowly for 1.5 hours.
Finish the soup
Half an hour before serving, strain out the meat and add the peas.
Twenty minutes later, add the rice flour, salt, pepper, and sugar if desired.
Stir frequently to prevent burning.
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.
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Peas + ricetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,434 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + ricetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,265 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides the main protein and meaty flavour as the soup simmers.
- Green peas
- Supply the body, sweetness and green flavour of the soup.
- Rice flour
- Thickens the soup as it is stirred into the hot liquid.
The step that matters
Stir frequently to prevent burning. Starches and sugars settle on the bottom of a pot and scorch easily during long simmering. Frequent stirring keeps them suspended and prevents a burnt taste from spreading through the soup.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, rice, flour, pepper, sugar):
- Black-eyed peafits better
- Beansfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, rice, flour, pepper, sugar. 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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