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Peas Pudding

A pudding made from split peas, eggs, butter, pepper, and salt, boiled and served with melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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

Prepare the peas

  1. Boil the split peas in a cloth in plenty of boiling water for about 2 hours until tender.

  2. Rub the cooked peas through a sieve.

Make and cook the pudding

  1. Mix the sieved peas with eggs, butter, pepper, and salt.

  2. Tie the mixture tightly in a buttered cloth and boil for another 30 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve with melted butter.

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. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  5. Peas + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Split peas
Form the bulk of the pudding, giving it body and a thick, starchy texture when cooked and sieved.
Eggs
Bind the sieved peas so the pudding holds its shape when boiled.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the pudding.

The step that matters

Tying the cloth. The mixture must be tied tightly in the buttered cloth so it keeps its shape while boiling and does not disperse into the water. A buttered cloth also helps stop it sticking.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Walnutfits about as well
  2. Almondfits about as well
  3. Peasthe original
  4. Pecansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, 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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