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To Stew Green Peas a Mild Way

A mild stew of young peas and lettuce with cream, sugar, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,293 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

To Stew Green Peas a Mild Way

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Put the peas and lettuces in a stew-pan with very little water.

  2. Stew gently until the peas are tender.

  3. Add the cream, sugar, and egg yolks, then stir over the fire for a short time, but do not allow to boil.

  4. Add salt before serving.

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 + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Young peas
Form the body of the dish and provide its main sweet, fresh flavour.
Young lettuces
Break down while stewing to add moisture and a soft, thickened texture.
Egg yolks
Thicken the cream mixture into a smooth, custard-like sauce when gently heated.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the sauce a smooth, silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg yolks without boiling. Egg yolk proteins set when heated, but if the mixture boils they can curdle and turn grainy. Gentle heat over the fire keeps the sauce smooth and thick.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, cream, sugar, egg):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, cream, sugar, egg. 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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