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Peas, Green, Boiled

A simple dish of boiled green peas seasoned with mint, butter, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,137 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Peas, Green, Boiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

  1. Shell the peas.

  2. Put them into boiling water.

  3. Add salt and a sprig of mint.

  4. Boil uncovered for 10 to 25 minutes, depending on age and variety.

Finish and serve

  1. Drain well.

  2. Transfer to a hot vegetable dish.

  3. Season with pepper and add butter.

  4. Serve.

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 + minttop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

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

  2. Mint + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,372 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

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

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

  5. Butter + peppertop 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

Green peas
Form the main body of the dish and provide its fresh, sweet vegetable flavor.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel as it melts over the hot peas.
Fresh mint
Contributes a cool, aromatic herbal note that is infused during boiling.

The step that matters

Boil uncovered for 10 to 25 minutes. Peas vary in age and variety, so timing changes their texture. Overcooking turns them soft and dull in color, while undercooking leaves them starchy and hard. Checking tenderness during boiling helps reach the right point.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, 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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