Why it works: Cucumber and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Pea Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Chop parsley and mint, then sauté in butter over low heat for about 1 hour.
Season with salt and white pepper or cayenne.
Drain the mixture and add it to the strained stock, bringing it to a gentle boil.
Add ½ to ¾ pint of cooked young peas and serve immediately.
For a smoother soup, press peas through a sieve instead of crushing.
For more flavor, stew peas in butter until tender, adding green onions and parsley.
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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Cucumber + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,409 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Peas + minttop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,137 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,483 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Cucumber + minttop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together884 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,293 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mint
The recipe marks mint as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, cucumber, lettuce, onion, parsley, butter, white pepper):
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Thymefits better
- Mintthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against peas, cucumber, lettuce, onion, parsley, butter, white pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More pea soup recipes
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