Why it works: Beef and peas are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,044 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Green Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Boil the empty pods of the peas in the water for 1 hour.
Strain out the pods.
Add the beef and peas
Add the beef and boil slowly for 1.5 hours.
Half an hour before serving, strain out the meat and add the peas.
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.
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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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Beef + peastop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,044 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Releases savory flavor into the broth and becomes tender during slow boiling.
- Green peas
- Add sweetness, body and a fresh vegetable flavor to the soup.
The step that matters
Adding the peas half an hour before serving. Peas cooked too long turn dull olive-green and soft and lose their sweet, fresh flavor. Adding them late keeps them brighter and gives them just enough heat to tenderize.
“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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