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A Cheap Green Peas Soup

A soup made from green peas, cucumbers, lettuce, onion, butter, and herbs, simmered in a broth of pea shells.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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A Cheap Green Peas Soup

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 ↓

A Cheap Green Peas Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pea stock

  1. Wash the pea shells thoroughly.

  2. Add the washed pea shells to boiling salted water.

  3. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes until tender.

  4. Strain and press the pods with a wooden spoon.

  5. Measure the liquid and pour 2 quarts into a clean saucepan.

Make the soup

  1. Bring the liquid to a boil.

  2. Add 1 quart of green peas, 2 or 3 peeled and quartered cucumbers, and 3 chopped lettuces.

  3. Sauté the sliced onion in butter for 30 minutes.

  4. Add the sautéed onion to the soup.

  5. Add parsley, mint, salt, and pepper.

  6. Simmer gently for 1 hour.

  7. Press the mixture through a fine sieve.

  8. Reheat the soup.

Serve

  1. Serve with small fried sippets.

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.

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.

  1. Cucumber + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,409 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Cucumber + minttop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together884 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked 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

What each ingredient does

Pea shells
Simmered in water to make the flavourful stock that forms the soup's base.
Green peas
Add body and sweet, earthy flavour to the puréed soup.
Cucumbers
Contribute moisture and a mild, fresh flavour once softened by simmering.
Lettuces
Soften during simmering and help thicken the soup into a smooth purée.
Onion
Sautéed in butter to build a sweet, savoury base for the soup.
Butter
Carries the onion's flavour and adds richness to the soup.

The step that matters

Press the mixture through a fine sieve. Pressing the cooked vegetables through a fine sieve breaks them down and removes fibrous bits, giving the soup a smooth, even texture.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, cucumber, lettuce, onion, butter, parsley, mint):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, cucumber, lettuce, onion, butter, parsley, mint. 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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