Why it works: Onion and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Pease Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the peas as for Pease Pudding.
Add the chopped onion and celery when rubbing the peas through a sieve.
Incorporate some of the broth to achieve the desired thickness.
Boil the mixture for five minutes until ready.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Onion + beeftop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Meat + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,533 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Peas + celerytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,460 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
- Dried peas
- Form the body of the soup, thickening it into a smooth purée when rubbed through a sieve.
- Meat broth
- Provides the liquid that sets the soup's thickness and carries its savoury flavour.
- Onion
- Adds aromatic sweetness and savoury depth to the soup base.
- Celery
- Contributes a fresh, aromatic vegetable flavour to the soup base.
The step that matters
Incorporate the broth gradually. Adding broth in stages lets you control thickness, since peas absorb liquid and thicken as they cool. Adding it all at once can make the soup too thin or too thick.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, celery, meat, beef):
- Sesamefits better
- Beansfits better
- Peanutfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, celery, meat, beef. 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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